Nkx3.2 and Sox9 can induce muscle satellite cells to express cartilage markers collagen II and aggrecan.

Muscle satellite cells were infected with RCAS viruses encoding GFP, Nkx3.2HA, Sox9V5 or Nkx3.2HA+Sox9V5. Immunocytochemistry and qRT-PCR analyses were performed. For all qRT-PCR, GAPDH was used for normalization. (A) Immunocytochemistry analysis of collagen II protein expression in satellite cells. Virus staining images were overlaid with collagen II images, and DAPI stains cell nuclei. (B) Western Blot analysis of collagen II protein expression in satellite cells. ß-actin, internal control. (C) qRT-PCR analysis of collagen II mRNA and (D) Aggrecan mRNA expression. (E) Glycoaminoglycan (GAG) assay. “*” denotes p<0.05 in statistical analysis.