Fig 2: Immunofluorescence results showing the expression of type II collagen, aggrecan and NF‐κB p65 in ATDC5 chondrocytes treated with 0 and 90 ng µL−1 FSH. (A) Type II collagen; (B) aggrecan and (C) NF‐κB p65. Red represents type II collagen, aggrecan and NF‐κB p65 proteins (fluorescein isothiocyanate‐conjugated). Blue indicates the nucleus using 4',6‐dimidyl‐2‐phenylindole staining (×200) (n = 3). Scale bar = 20 μm.

Fig 3: The difference between high FSH and low FSH group. The levels of BMI (A), E2 (B), LDL‐C (C), WOMAC scores (D), average T2 (E), TC (F) and FSH (G) in the high FSH group (n = 45) and low FSH group (n = 34). Data are expressed as the SEM. Student's t‐test was used to compare differences between two groups. *P < 0.05 and ****P < 0.0001. ns, no statistical significance.

Fig 4: Effects of FSH at concentrations of 0, 9, 30 and 90 ng·µL−1 on type II collagen and the PI3K/AKT/NF‐κB signaling pathway in ATDC5 chondrocytes by western blotting. (A) Representative images of western blotting. (B) The protein expression levels of p‐PI3K/PI3K, p‐AKT/AKT, p‐NF‐κB/NF‐κB and p‐IKBα/IKBα. Each expression level was normalized with GAPDH (n = 3). Data are expressed as the SEM. Multiple comparisons were presented using one‐way ANOVA. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001 and ****P < 0.0001.

Fig 5: Pathological changes of articular cartilage tissues in postmenopausal female KOA patients with low FSH and high FSH according to saffran/fast green. (A, B) Low FSH (A: ×50, B: ×100). (C, D) High FSH group (C: ×50, D: ×100). The images in (B) and (D) are magnified versions of the images in (A) and (C), respectively. (E‐H) High FSH (×50). Scale bar: 400 μm in (A), (C), (E), (F), (G) and (H) or 200 μm (B) and (D).