Fig. 3From: DNA methylation regulates sclerostin (SOST) expression in osteoarthritic chondrocytes by bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) induced changes in Smads binding affinity to the CpG region of SOST promoterEffect of 5-AzadC treatment on SOST expression and DNA methylation status in the CpG-rich region of the SOST promoter. a Quantitative SOST mRNA expression in cultured normal chondrocytes (n = 3) after treatment with 5 μM 5-AzadC. GAPDH was used for normalization of the real-time PCR data (error bars = standard error, *p = 0.041). b Representative western blot of SOST protein levels in cultured normal chondrocytes after treatment with 5 μM 5-AzadC and a bar graph showing relative SOST protein expression normalized to β-actin in 5-AzadC-treated normal chondrocytes (n = 3) (error bars = standard error, *p = 0.009). c DNA methylation and unmethylation status of the SOST promoter in cultured normal chondrocytes after treatment with 5 μM 5-AzadC. d DNA methylation values in CpG-rich region of the SOST promoter in cultured normal chondrocytes (n = 3) after treatment with 5 μM 5-AzadC by quantitative methylation-specific PCR (error bars = standard error, *p = 0.032)Back to article page