Ligustrazine Inhibits Cartilage Endplate Hypertrophy via Suppression of TGF-β1

Figure 1

Characteristics of hypertrophic CEP cells from patient samples. (a) Hypertrophic CEP-derived cells could be seen sloughing off the tissue on day 16. After the first and second passages, several bony-like nodules could be seen although the CEP pieces had been removed off. (b) Cells with low concentration were negative for ALP-staining on day 3. On day 26, the condensed cells spontaneously showed strong positive ALP staining. (c, d) mRNA levels of (c) Col1a1 and (d) TGF-β were detected by qPCR. (e) TGF-β protein level was tested by western blot. Each column represents the mean ± SE of three independent experiments. , .

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