Table 1.

Results of biochemical assays and mechanical testing for each loading condition

Tissue properties	Straining conditions
	0%	4%	8%
DNA/dry weight (μg/mg)	1.51  ±  0.38	1.62  ±  0.13	1.59  ±  0.12
GAG/DNA (−)	7.78  ±  0.58	6.92  ±  0.33*	6.80  ±  0.48*
Collagen/DNA (−)	58.78  ±  13.35	40.81  ±  1.57**	39.76  ±  2.31**
Crosslinks (−)	0.16  ±  0.021	0.25  ±  0.024**	0.25  ±  0.031**
Stiffness (MPa)	2.64  ±  0.47	2.80  ±  0.50	1.92  ±  0.16*,+

Abbreviations are defined as follows: Hyp = Hydroxyproline and GAG = Glycosaminoglycan. *Indicates significant difference with reference condition 0% (*p  <  0.05, **p  <  0.01), ⁺indicates significant difference with respect to condition 4% (⁺p  <  0.05)