Fig. 3

Areas of cartilage damage exhibit proteoglycan loss. a Representative images (10X magnification) of Safranin O staining of proteoglycan in femoral medial condyle cryosections from n = 8 adult pigs with varying signs of joint damage. White numbers represent SFA of the femoral condyle joint (medial plus lateral). Yellow numbers represent the SFA score of the whole joint (femoral condyle and tibial plateau). b Correlation between chondropathy scoring (SFA and Collins) and sGAG release from femoral condyle cartilage explants prepared from n = 7 adult pig joints. sGAG release was measured by DMMB assay and is expressed as the relative fold difference in damaged cartilage compared to healthy undamaged control cartilage explant. r = Pearson’s correlation coefficient