Figure 8.

Menisci and cartilage surfaces of Cd44-/- mice show lack of protection by intra-articular HA injections. Cd44-/- male mice were subjected to the TTR model without (n = 4) or with (n = 4) intra-articular HA injections. Knee joints from those treated mice as well as naïve (n = 4) treated mice were examined by India Ink application, photography under a Nikon dissecting microscope (SMZ1000, X6) and images processed with Spot Basic, Diagnostic Instruments, Inc. Typical images of meniscus and cartilage surfaces from naïve joints (top row) and joints from the TTR group (second row) and TTR+HA group (third rows) are shown. Black arrow heads indicate cartilage erosion and black stars indicate fibrotic overgrowth. See Figure 2 for equivalent images from wild-type mice.