Figure 2
Oral NAC administration inhibits osteoarthritis development in rats. (a–d) (a) Schematic showing NAC treatment in the rat osteoarthritis model. Mechanical stress-induced osteoarthritis models were created in the left knee joints of 12-week-old wild-type male Wistar rats. Right sides were sham-operated. NAC (5.0 g/l) or control water was supplied for eight weeks (w) starting at the time of surgery. (b,c) Then, knee joint sections (femur and tibia) were prepared and stained with safranin O and the Mankin score was evaluated. Bar, 100μm. Data shows the mean total Mankin score ± SD (n = 3 each, *P < 0.05). (d) Surgery or sham-surgery was performed in left or right knee joints, respectively, of 12-week-old wild-type male Wistar rats, and rats were maintained with or without NAC water (5.0 g/l) for eight weeks afterwards. Shown are right sham operated and left osteoarthritis-operated knee joint sections prepared after the procedure and stained with mouse anti 8-OHdG followed by Alexa Fluor 488-conjugated goat anti-mouse IgG. Nuclei were visualized by DAPI. Bar, 20μm. Representative data of at least two independent experiments are shown.
