Fig. 3From: Extracellular vesicles derived from human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells alleviate osteoarthritis of the knee in mice model by interacting with METTL3 to reduce m6A of NLRP3 in macrophageThe protection effect of knee OA by hucMSCs-EVs was abolished in NLRP3−/− mice. A. Safranin O and Fast Green staining of knee sections and micro-CT analysis of knee joint in NLRP3−/− mice with DMM-induced OA. Expression levels of COL2A1, Aggrecan, ADAMTS5, and MMP13 were determined by immunofluorescence staining. Scale bar = 400 μm for Safranin O and Fast Green staining; Scale bar = 1 mm for Micro-CT; Scale bar = 100 μm for immunofluorescence staining. B. OARIS scores of knee sections in each group (n = 10). C. Osteophyte score of each group (n = 10). D. Quantification of mean fluorescence intensity of COL2A1, Aggrecan, ADAMTS5, and MMP13 in each group (n = 10). E. Levels of IL-1β, IL-18, and TNF-α in mice knee tissue as determined by ELISA (n = 3). Data are presented as mean ± SD. ns, no significance; *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001Back to article page