Fig. 1

Identification of differentially expressed miRNAs in OA cartilage tissues. a Heat map depicting 32 differentially expressed miRNAs between OA and NC. Red represents higher and blue represents lower expression relative to the mean intensity value (white) across all samples (fold change > 2 or < 0.5, Benjamini–Hochberg-corrected p). b Volcano plot illustrating the biological and statistical significances of differential miRNA expressions between OA and NC. The negative Log10-adjusted P values (y axis) are plotted against the Log2 fold changes in expression (x axis). Red dots indicate the upregulated (right side) and blue dots indicate downregulated (left side) miRNAs. miR-653-5p is indicated. c Compared with controls (n = 6), miR-653-5p expression level in human chondrocytes was downregulated in OA patients (n = 6) using qRT-PCR assay. d FISH analysis of chondrocytes from OA patients demonstrated decreased level of miR-653-5p compared to normal controls (n = 3). Scale bar = 10 μm. P values are from two-tailed unpaired Student’s t-test (c, d). has, human; FISH, fluorescence in situ hybridisation; miRNA, microRNA; OA, osteoarthritis; NC, normal control