Fig.1A–E.

Histomorphological analysis of the intervertebral fusion area. After 12 weeks, interbody fusion was evaluated histomorphologically and histomorphometrically on midsagittal slides. Depicted is a digitalized view of a Safrin-O/van Kossa staining of the intervertebral fusion area (magnification ×1.6). Lateral radiograph of the sheep motion segment C3/4 (A) shows orientation of slides B–E. B is representative of group 1 (n=8) cage + poly-(D,L-lactide) (PDLLA), C of group 2 (n=8) cage + PDLLA + IGF-I (0.5%) + TGF-β1 (2.5%), D of group 3 (n=8) cage + PDLLA + IGF-I (1%) + TGF-β1 (5%), and E of group 4 (n=8) cage + PDLLA + IGF-I (2%) + TGF-β1 (10%). The grey bars represent the location of the branches of the cage