Research Paper Volume 12, Issue 8 pp 6558—6569

Epigenetic modulation of macrophage polarization prevents lumbar disc degeneration

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Figure 2. CD68 promoter in AAVs allows specific targeting of macrophages. After LDD was induced in mice, orthotopic injection of these AAVs into LDD-mice was performed. Mice in the scramble group received an orthotopic injection of 100 μl 1011 AAV-pCD68-scramble; mice in the shDNMT1 group received an orthotopic injection of 100 μl 1011 AAV-pCD68-shDNMT1; mice in the shTGFβ1 group received an orthotopic injection of 100 μl 1011 AAV-pCD68-shTGFβ1; mice in the shDNMT1+shTGFβ1 group received an orthotopic injection of 50 μl 0.5X1011 AAV-pCD68-shDNMT1 and 50 μl 0.5X1011 AAV-pCD68-shTGFβ1. Mice were kept for 4 weeks before analysis. (A, B) F4/80 staining and GFP signals are shown by representative images (A) and by quantification of the percentage of GFP+ cells in all F4/80+ cells (B). NS: non-significant. N=7. Scale bars are 20μm.