Fig. 3.

Effects of 1 week uniform 1.3 MPa mechanical compression followed by a, b 3 weeks of unloaded recovery or 3 weeks of fixed-angle bending: concave (c, d) and convex side (e, f). Safranin-O/Fast-green stained sections were visualized under brightfield microscopy (a, c, e), and the same sections were then imaged under polarized light microscopy (b, d, f). The AF on the concave side of bending resembled that of unloaded recovery discs, but with inward anular bulging (c). In contrast, the AF on the convex side of bending possessed organized lamellae similar to that of healthy AF, as indicated by the strong birefringence of collagen (f)