Figure 2

Osteoarthritic changes were more pronounced in high-fat (HF) diet-treated mice. (a) Histologic sections of injured and sham joints at 1-, 2-, 3-, and 4-month time points after meniscal-ligamentous injury (MLI) were stained with Alcian blue. Representative sections from the 4-month time point are shown. Magnification, ×100. (b) Slides were graded for OA severity by using the OARSI histopathology initiative scoring method for mice. The slides were also analyzed with histomorphometry for tibial cartilage thickness (c) and total articular cartilage area (tibia + femur, d). All histomorphometry data were normalized to sham-operated joint-cartilage thickness and area, respectively, from lean mice. All results are expressed as the mean ± SEM from at least five mice with three slides per mouse. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; n = 4 to 9 mice at each time point.