Figure 4

OA progression after meniscal-ligamentous injury MLI is comparable in mice on either short- or long-term HF diets. Injured and sham joints at 3 months after MLI were harvested from the lean, short-term HF, and long-term HF groups. (a) Histologic slides were stained with Alcian blue and (b) scored for OA severity by using the OARSI histopathology initiative scoring method for mice. The slides were also analyzed with histomorphometry for tibial cartilage thickness, with the data normalized to the cartilage thickness determined in sham-operated joints from lean mice (c). Results are expressed as the mean ± SEM from at least six mice with three slides per mouse. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01. n = 6 to 8 mice in each group.