Fig 1: The immunofluorescent expressions of COMP (Alexa Fluor 488-green) and TNF-α (Alexa Fluor 594-red) immunoreactivity in the vehicle control (A and a), CFA combined with sham-operation (sLA, B and b) and laser acupuncture (LA, C and c) groups, respectively. The level of COMP- and TNF-α-like immunoreactivity were counted in five randomly selected high-power fields (×200) in each section (D and d). The bar graph shows a statistical difference in the COMP- and TNF-α-like immunoreactive cells among the vehicle control, sLA and LA groups. A decrease in COMP expression and elevation in TNF-α expression in the cartilage from the sLA group were noted compared with the vehicle control and LA groups. Each value represents the mean ± SD. Different italic letters indicate significant differences between groups using Scheffe’s post hoc test (P < 0.05). A scale bar indicates 50 μm.