Fig. 2

Exercise attenuates PTOA-relevant phenotypes of cartilage and subchondral bone. a The representative images of hematoxylin–eosin (HE) and safranin O (SafO)/fast green staining (scale bar = 400 μm, black) in a sagittal plane. b Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) score of the Sham/Sed, PTOA/Sed, and PTOA/TW groups. c Immunohistochemical staining of COL2A1 and MMP13 positive cells was performed in tibial plateau sections of each group (scale bar = 200 μm, black). d Percentage of COL2A1 and MMP13 positive cells in each group. e Three-dimensional micro-CT reconstruction of tibial coronal plane of rats in each group (scale bar = 1 mm, white). f Statistical analysis of tibial trabecular parameters: volume/tissue volume fraction (BV/TV), trabecular number bone (Tb.N), trabecular separation (Tb.Sp) and trabecular thickness (Tb.Th). The mean and standard error are used to represent the data, n = 6. * < 0.05, ** < 0.01, *** < 0.001