Molecular Insight into the Association between Cartilage Regeneration and Ear Wound Healing in Genetic Mouse Models: Targeting New Genes in Regeneration

Certain mouse strains have the ability to heal both ear wounds and knee articular cartilage injuries. A positive genetic correlation between cartilage healing and protection from osteoarthritis exists, which suggests that a common core of genes may operate in healing process. Here, we analyzed knee joint tissues from healer and non-healer mice and found that four genes were common to both ear wound and knee cartilage healing. Specific sequence differences between haler and non-healer parental strains were identified as potential causal polymorphisms. We suggest a common molecular and genetic basis of tissue healing. We collected tissue lysates from the formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded sections from mouse knee joints and analyzed the expression of several genes by Affymetrix QunatiGene Plex assay. Please note that 8-9 replicates were performed per each sample. The averaged (across the replicate samples) data was provided for each sample record and non-averaged data (from each replicate) is provided as a Series supplementary file (*setI.txt contains data from Panel 321347 and *setII.txt from panel 321389).