Table 2.

Surface roughness analysis using AFM of freshly isolated immature and mature, and, immature cartilage explants cultured either in serum-free medium (ITS) or with growth factors (ITS-FGF2-TGFβ1).

	Immature AC	Mature AC	Immature AC
			ITS	ITS-FGF2-TGFβ1
RMS (μm)	0.83 ± 0.15	0.49 ± 0.10	0.79 ± 0.12	0.55 ± 0.09a,b
25th percentile asperity radii (μm)	2.04	3.12	2.29	3.02
50th percentile asperity radii (μm)	3.04	4.58	2.72	4.62
75th percentile asperity radii (μm)	4.90	9.03	4.27	8.77

(N = 6 for all groups, P < 0.05)

^aSignificantly different from serum-free cultured (ITS) immature cartilage.

^bSignificantly different from Immature AC.