Fig. 6

LOXL2 promotes anabolic responses in implants of the human knee and osteoarthritic temporomandibular joint (TMJ-OA) chondrocytes in vivo. a In vitro imaging systems (IVIS) imaging of human articular chondrocytes (HAC)/Matrigel implants in nude mice after local injection every week for 6 weeks with adenoviruses for transient expression of LOXL2 (Ad-RFP-LOXL2) or Ad-RFP-empty vector (EV) (Ad-RFP-empty). Knee HAC-OA/Matrigel implants were injected weekly with Ad-RFP-LOXL2 or Ad-RFP-EV, harvested after 6 weeks, and analyzed by Safranin O/Fast Green, Alcian blue, and Masson’s trichrome staining (b) with relative quantification (c), and RT-qPCR using human primers (d). TMJ-OA/Matrigel implants were injected weekly with Ad-RFP-LOXL2 or Ad-RFP-EV, harvested after 6 weeks, and analyzed by Safranin O/Fast Green, Alcian blue, and Masson’s Trichrome staining (e) with relative quantification (f), and RT-qPCR (g) using human primers (n = 5/condition; *P < 0.05 and **P < 0.01; Student’s t test). SOX9 sex determining region Y-box containing gene 9, ACAN aggrecan, COL2A1 collagen type II α1, MMP matrix metalloproteinase