Fig. 4
Fecal microbiota transplantation alleviated ACLT-induced OA. (A) The schematic diagram of the FMT experiments. (B) H&E, Safranine O and Toluidine Blue staining of femur articular cartilage in ACLTVehicle+FMT and ACLTGNPs+FMT group. (C) Immunohistochemical staining of the expression of MMP-13 in articular cartilage of sections. (D) Immunohistochemical staining of the expression of Aggrecan in articular cartilage of sections. (E) Quantitative analysis of OARSI histology scoring. (F) Quantitative analysis of MANKIN grading. (G) Quantitative analysis of percentage of cells with positive staining for MMP-13 in articular cartilage. (H) Quantitative analysis of percentage of cells with positive staining for Aggrecan in articular cartilage. (I) Representative µCT images about 2D images of longitudinal section femurs and 3D images of distal femurs. The coloring parts represent the ROI for analysis. Quantification of femoral BMD, BV/TV, Tb.Th, Tb.N and Tb.Sp in indicated groups, n = 5. (J) Representative µCT images about 2D images of longitudinal section tibias and 3D images of proximal tibias. The coloring parts represent the ROI for analysis. Quantification of tibial BMD, BV/TV, Tb.Th, Tb.N and Tb.Sp in indicated groups, n = 5. (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001, N.S represented not significant)