Fig. 2

Gene expression of chondrogenic markers in OASC2 and BMSC during chondrogenic induction. a A dot graph showing quantification of COL2A1 mRNA level in the chondrogenic induction group (Chondro.) and control group (Growth) in OASC2. The expression levels of COL2A1 were significantly increased under chondrogenic condition than control; n.d., not detected. b Quantification of ACAN mRNA level in the chondrogenic induction group and control group in OASC2. The expression levels of ACAN were significantly increased under chondrogenic condition than control. c Quantification of IHH mRNA level in the chondrogenic induction group and control group in OASC2. The expression levels of IHH increased significantly since day 7 after induction. d Quantification of SOX9 mRNA level in the chondrogenic induction group and control group in OASC2. The expression levels of SOX9 increased significantly since day 7 after induction. e Quantification of ACAN mRNA level in the chondrogenic induction group and control group in BMSC. The ACAN levels were lower after chondrogenic induction. f Quantification of IHH mRNA level in the chondrogenic induction group and control group in BMSC. The IHH levels were lower after chondrogenic induction than control. g Quantification of SOX9 mRNA level in the chondrogenic induction group and control group in BMSC. SOX9 levels were suppressed significantly after chondrogenic induction. h Western Blot analysis showing SOX9 protein expression after chondrogenic induction in OASC2. The SOX9 protein levels were increased after chondrogenic induction. Quantification of western blot is presented in Additional file 1: Figure S1a. Data are presented as mean ± SD from at least 3 sample images for each group; *p ≤ 0.05; **p ≤ 0.01; ****p ≤ 0.0001, relative to indicated control groups respectively