Fig. 8

Immunofluorescence studies for collagen type II and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) in cartilage. Immunofluorescent staining is shown for collagen II (a, d, g), MMP-9 (j, m, p), 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) (b, e, h, k, n, q), and merged images (c, f, i, l, o, r). Mean fluorescence intensity is shown for collagen II (s) and MMP-9 (t). These are the representative images of five swine each in the vitamin D-deficient (VDDef) and vitamin D-sufficient (VDSuff) groups and three swine in the vitamin D-supplemented (VDSupp) group. Data are shown as mean ± SD. **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001