Representative haematoxylin and eosin micrographs of synovium biopsies taken at osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis total knee arthroplasty. (a-c) Osteoarthritis: (a) category 1 (least inflamed), (b) category 2, and (c) category 3 (most inflamed). I, synovium intima; L, lymphoid body; SV, small vessel; V, villus. (d) Rheumatoid arthritis, category 3. Each biopsy was assigned to one of four categories: 0 = normal: synovial intima less than four cells thick, sparse cellular distribution, with few or no inflammatory cells (not shown as normal synovial fluid samples were not accompanied by synovium biopsies); 1 = mild inflammation: synovial intima three to five cells thick, slight increase in cellularity with few inflammatory cells; 2 = moderate inflammation: synovial intima four to six cells thick, dense cellularity with inflammatory cells, may exhibit as small lymphoid aggregates; 3 = severe inflammation: synovial intima five to seven or more cells thick, dense cellularity with inflammatory cells, containing many or large perivascular lymphoid aggregates. Bar = 100 μm.