Figure 2

The panels on the left show representative photomicrographs of type II collagen protein expression (2A) in the proliferating and hypertrophic chondrocytes, 20× (denoted by the purple color and brackets); ^a p < 0.003 Rapamycin (2 weeks) vs Control (2 weeks). Histone-4 protein expression (2B, denoted by arrows and brown color), 50×; ^ap < 0.001 Rapamycin (2 weeks) vs Control (2 weeks); ^bp < 0.05 Rapamycin (2 weeks) vs Rapamycin (4 weeks); ^cp < 0.04 Rapamycin (4 weeks) vs Control (4 weeks). mTOR protein expression (2C, denoted by arrows and brown color), 50×; ^ap < 0.004 Rapamycin (2 weeks) vs Control (2 weeks); ^bp < 0.001 Rapamycin (4 weeks) vs Control (4 weeks). The panels on the right show the quantification of the protein expression for type II collagen (upper panel); histone-4 (middle panel); and mTOR (lower panel) after 2 weeks and 4 weeks in Rapamycin and Control groups expressed as number of labeled cells to the total number of cells in the appropriate zone (Labeling Index).