Fig. 6

Histological evaluations of cartilage femoral condyles after IA injection of probes for 2 weeks and 4 weeks. H&E (a) and safranin-O/fast green (b) staining of cartilage sections. Scale bar: 400 μm. c Histological scoring of articular cartilage. d Immunohistochemical staining of MMP-13 was evaluated on cartilage sections after IA-injection with PBS, DEX, CAPP@DEX, TKP@DEX or TKCP@DEX. Scale bar: 200 μm. (n = 6; mean ± SD; *, # indicate p < 0.05, **; ## indicate p < 0.01; ***, ### indicate p < 0.001.)