FIG. 1.

Study design. Chondrocytes were isolated from articular, auricular, and nasal cartilage from each of the three rabbits. Isolated cells were culture-expanded, loaded onto scaffolds, and cultured in bioreactors for 3 or 6 weeks. Once harvested, each sample of engineered cartilage was cut into five pieces for characterization by (A) biomechanical testing, (B) histological and immunohistochemical staining, (C) dGEMRIC, an MRI-based measure of GAG concentration and spatial distribution, (D) GAG content assay, and (E) collagen content assay. Dashed arrows indicate the loading direction during biomechanical testing.