Fig. 3

Pinch ablation reduces PZ chondrocyte proliferation and increases HZ chondrocyte apoptosis, resulting in limb shortening. a Representative pictures of the femurs, tibiae, and humeri of 6-week-old male control and dKO mice. Scale bar, 5 mm. b Quantification of long bone lengths. Student’s t test. The results are expressed as the mean ± s.d. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, versus control mice. N = 8 control mice; N = 6 dKO mice. c–e Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining of tibial sections from 6-week-old male control and dKO mice with an antibody against Ki67 (c, top) or active caspase-3 (c, bottom). Scale bar, 50 μm. Quantification of Ki67⁺ cells in the PZ (d) and cellularity in the PZ (e). Quantitative data were obtained from the areas between the two green dashed lines. N = 3 mice per group (d) or 5 mice per group (e). The data are expressed as the mean ± s.d. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 versus control mice, Student’s t test