Fig. 1

Schematic representation of the repair of chondral fissures by cLIUS under catabolic conditions: (a) Figure represents a schematic model of chondral fissures in bovine osteochondral explants. A 4 mm full-thickness concentric incision in the cartilage portion of the osteochondral explants (8 mm diameter, 1-2 mm chondral thickness, 1-5 mm bone segment) was created using a biopsy punch. b Experiment design: The incised osteochondral explants were cultured in DMEM-F12 medium supplemented with 10% FBS, 1× antibiotic-antimycotic solution and 50 μg/ml L-ascorbic acid without any cytokine treatment or in the presence of either IL-6 or TNFα, each added at a concentration of 20 ng/ml. cLIUS was applied at 14 kPa (5 MHz, 2.5 Vpp), 20 min, 4times/day for 28 days. Non-cLIUS-stimulated explants served as controls for each treatment condition