Fig. 4
From: Increased caveolin-1 in intervertebral disc degeneration facilitates repair
Phosphorylated Smad2 (pSmad2) expression is lower in young wild-type (WT) than in young caveolin (Cav)-1-null mice. Immunofluorescent staining for pSmad2 (green) on the nucleus pulposus (NP) of WT and Cav-1-null mice. The cell nuclei were stained with 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (blue). pSmad2 protein expression (pSmad2 ratio) is significantly lower in the murine WT NP at 1.5 months of age than in the murine WT NP at 3 months of age and the murine Cav-1-null NP at 1.5 and 3 months of age. Bars indicate 25 μm. n = 2–5 per age group and condition (WT or Cav-1-null mice). *p < 0.05