Fig 2: ZEB1 was poorly expressed in both postmenopausal osteoporotic patients and rats. A The heatmap analysis of differentially expressed genes in the GSE56815 dataset where BMD refers to bone mineral density. B Detection of ZEB1 expression in the blood of normal controls and OP patients by RT-qPCR (n = 40). C Detection of ALP, OPN and RUNX2 expression in bone tissues of sham- and OVX-treated rat by RT-qPCR. D Detection of TRAP expression in rat bone tissue by immunohistochemistry. E Assessment of bone content and structural changes in femoral tissues of rats by HE staining where bone trabeculae were labeled with red arrows and bone mass was labeled with green arrows. F–G Expression of ZEB1 in rat bone tissues at mRNA and protein levels by RT-qPCR (F) and Western blot (G). All data are represented as mean ± SD (n = 6 for rats in each group). Each experiment was performed three times independently. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01. Differences are tested using two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test (C) and unpaired t-test (B, D, F, G)