FIGURE 2.

Histological and immunohistochemical staining of cartilage-scaffold cryosections. (A) Experimental workflow depicting orientation of cryosectioning. Representative brightfield images of stained cryosections and quantification of scaffold component from cartilage-scaffold constructs cultured in a bioreactor for 28 days. All free swelling and loading samples were analysed with ROIs that covered the full depth of the sample. Note the data is grouped by loading condition and location but not transglutaminase content, as ANOVA found that the absence or presence of transglutaminase was not a significant source of variation (Safranin-O: p = 0.79, type II collagen: p = 0.79, type I collagen: p = 0.32). (B) Safranin-O staining indicative of the presence of sGAGs. Immunohistochemical staining indicative of type II collagen (C) and type I collagen (D). Box and whisker plots indicate the mean and interquartile ranges (n = 4). Significance assessed by ANOVA and Bonferroni post-hoc tests. Note that (B) shows the significant main effect of the loading condition, not post-hoc tests. ***p < 0.001, *p < 0.05.