Fig. 3

Toluidine blue staining of cultured cartilage explant without (A, C) and with 60-min enzyme treatment (B, D). Marked proteoglycan loss and subsequent chondrocyte migration from the lacuna in the superficial zone were observed (B). Metachromasia of the cartilage matrix was weakened, but cellular migration from the lacuna was not observed, in the deep zone (D). Hyper-magnification of the dashed box indicates that proteoglycan content appeared to be sufficient to prevent cell migration (D)