Corresponding Changes of Autophagy‐Related Genes and Proteins in Different Stages of Knee Osteoarthritis: An Animal Model Study

Objective To investigate the effect of autophagy expression levels of different weight‐bearing states and different stages of osteoarthritis in animal models, as well as the corresponding mechanisms. Methods We used the male Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats (12‐week‐old, SPF) to establish the OA animal models by modified Hulth method, and grouped animal models according to the length of time after surgery and different weight‐bearing areas. RT‐qPCR was carried out for detection of autophagy‐related genes such as Atg7, Atg12, P62, etc. Western blot analysis was used to detect the expression levels of corresponding autophagy‐related proteins such as LC3B, P62, etc. T test was performed for statistical analysis to compare different groups, while the differences were deemed statistically significant with P