This work was supported by the National Key Program on Basic Research of China (No. 2006BAI23B01-3);National Natural Scie- nce Foundation of China (No. 30430350, 30500);National High-Tech Research and Development Program (No. 2006AA 02Z168, Z000 6303041231).
It has been previously reported that small mother against decapentaplegic 3 (Smad3) gene knockout (Smad3^ex8/ex8) mice displays phenotypes similar to human osteoarthritis, as characterized by abnormal hypertrophic...