Fig. 4

Overexpression of HDAC suppresses proliferation and stimulates apoptosis of chondrocytes by downregulating the expression of miR-503-5p. a Western blot analysis for determination of protein expression of HDAC2 in primary chondrocytes and OA chondrocytes. b Expression of HDAC in rat OA chondrocytes after overexpressing HDAC detected by Western blot analysis. c Expression of miR-503-5p in primary chondrocytes and OA chondrocytes examined by RT-qPCR assay. d Apoptosis in OA chondrocytes examined by flow cytometry. e Gray value analysis of apoptosis-related factors (Caspase-3, Bax, and Bcl2) in OA chondrocytes. f The protein expression of apoptosis-related factors (Caspase-3, Bax, and Bcl2) in OA chondrocytes detected by Western blot analysis. g Proliferation of primary chondrocytes in OA rats measured by MTT assay. h The expression of inflammatory cytokines in primary chondrocytes from OA rats assessed by ELISA. *p < 0.05, ^#p < 0.05. Measurement data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. Comparisons among multiple groups were conducted by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test. The experiment was repeated three times