Figure 3. Skin tensile strength measurements

The force required to break 1.0 cm width strips of skin prepared from each knock-out and control mouse was determined as follows: Whole skin was immobilized on a flat surface under uniform tension. Six cuts required to produce 3 identical, parallel strips of skin of 1.0 cm width were made simultaneously with a 6 bladed cutting device (designed by R. Lundquist), with skin flattened beneath a slotted plastic mask. From each mouse, two strips were used. Force required to break each strip was determined as described in methods. The means were compared using the one way ANOVA-F-test. This test produced a p value of 0.0113323. At an α of 0.025 there is sufficient evidence to indicate significant differences between the mean value of mimecan-null versus the mean value of wild-type mice.