CTXii correlates with histology. At 6 weeks, higher levels of CTXii correlated with greater articular cartilage degeneration (higher histology grades) assessed by (A) the total modified Mankin score (correlation coefficient = 0.813, P < 0.01, n = 12) and (B) the total modified David-Vaudey matrix grade (correlation coefficient = 0.729, P < 0.01, n = 12). A linear fit was applied (black line) to better demonstrate the correlation between CTXii level and histology score.