Fig 1.

Growing cartilaginous tissues were engineered with appropriate polymeric delivery vehicles. The gross appearance of chondrocytes transplanted with unmodified alginate (a) and RGD-modified alginate (b) after 25 weeks, and changes in implant mass over time (c) demonstrated growth of the engineered tissue when adhesion ligands are provided by the transplantation vehicle. Masson's Trichrome stain indicating the presence of cross-linked collagen after 6 weeks in the unmodified alginate/chondrocyte group (×100) (d) and the RGD-modified alginate/chondrocyte group (×100) (e), although the extent of formation of a cartilaginous tissue was accelerated in the RGD-alginate vehicle.