Figure 7

Correlation between the protein expression of MMP-2and MMP-9with collagen-I. (A) MMP-2 and collage-I. (B) MMP-9 and collage-I. Collagen volume fraction refers to the percentage of collagen-I to the whole areafrom each of the five random fieldsin each sample expressed as means ± standard error in each sample from Group D using the pathological image analysis system. Pearson’s correlation showed a negative linear relationship between the protein expression of MMP-2 and collagen-I (r = −0.715, P = 0.038)and between the protein expression of MMP-9 and collagen-I (r = −0.697, P = 0.049). MMP, matrix metalloproteinase.