About the Authors

Kosuke Ebina

k-ebina@umin.ac.jp

Affiliation Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan

Kenrin Shi

Affiliation Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan

Makoto Hirao

Affiliation Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, National Hospital Organization, Osaka Minami Medical Center, Kawachinagano, Osaka, Japan

Jun Hashimoto

Affiliation Department of Immunology, National Hospital Organization, Osaka Minami Medical Center, Kawachinagano, Osaka, Japan

Yoshitaka Kawato

Affiliation Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan

Shoichi Kaneshiro

Affiliation Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan

Tokimitsu Morimoto

Affiliation Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan

Kota Koizumi

Affiliation Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan

Hideki Yoshikawa

Affiliation Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan

Competing Interests

This research was funded by Ligaric Company Limited and West Nippon Expressway Company. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: KE KS MH JH HY. Performed the experiments: KE YK SK TM KK. Analyzed the data: KE YK SK TM KK. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: KE YK SK TM KK. Wrote the paper: KE KS.