Table 1.
Study design of the control group and the four experimental groups.
Fig 1.
Gross appearance of repair tissue in osteochondral defects.
(A) Gross appearance of the cartilage defect areas in the control group without transplantation and the experimental groups transplanted with different concentrations of hUCB-MSCs (0.1, 0.5, 1.0, or 1.5 x 107 cells/ml) with hyaluronic acid hydrogel at 4 weeks, 8 weeks, and 16 weeks post transplantation. (B) International Cartilage Repair Society gross appearance scores for the control group and the four experimental groups at 4 weeks (n = 3/group), 8 weeks (n = 3/group), and 16 weeks (n = 5/group) post transplantation. (* p < 0.05, ** p<0.001).
Fig 2.
Histological analysis of the cartilage defect area at 4 weeks post transplantation.
Representative microscopic features of the cartilage defect area in the control group (defect only) and the experimental groups (0.1 x 107 cells/ml, 0.5 x 107 cells/ml, 1.0 x 107 cells/ml, or 1.5 x 107 cells/ml) at 4 weeks post transplantation. Sectioned specimens were stained with H & E, safranin-O, Collagen type II antibody, and Masson’s Trichrome. × 40. Scale bars = 200 μm.
Fig 3.
Histological analysis of the cartilage defect area at 8 weeks after transplantation.
Representative microscopic features of the cartilage defect area in the control group (defect only) and experimental groups (0.1 x 107 cells/ml, 0.5 x 107 cells/ml, 1.0 x 107 cells/ml, or 1.5 x 107 cells/ml) at 8 weeks post transplantation. Sectioned specimens were stained with H & E, safranin-O, Collagen type II antibody, and Masson’s Trichrome. × 40. Scale bars = 200 μm.
Fig 4.
Histological analysis of the cartilage defect area at 16 weeks post transplantation.
Representative microscopic features of the cartilage defect area in the control group (defect only) and experimental groups (0.1 x 107 cells/ml, 0.5 x 107 cells/ml, 1.0 x 107 cells/ml, 1.5 x 107 cells/ml) at 16 weeks post transplantation. Sectioned specimens were stained with H & E, safranin-O, Collagen type II antibody, and Masson’s Trichrome. × 40. Scale bars = 200 μm.
Fig 5.
Using the modified O`Driscoll scoring scale, cartilage repair at the defect site was quantified in the control group (defect only) and the four experimental groups (0.1 x 107 cells/ml, 0.5 x 107 cells/ml, 1.0 x 107 cells/ml, or 1.5 x 107 cells/ml) at 4 weeks (n = 3/group), 8 weeks (n = 3/group), and 16 weeks (n = 5/group) post transplantation (maximum score, 24 points). (* p < 0.05, ** p < 0.001).