Figure 5.

Normalized equilibrium uptake ratio, R_U, of exogenous active TGF-β1 in the cartilage matrix versus exposed bath concentration. According to Eq. 3, as the bath concentration approaches zero, this concentration ratio is equal to the value κ(N_t/K_D + 1). Dashed curves represent theoretical cases of Eq. 3 based on parameters summarized in Table 2. Each curve reflects a different binding site transition point. ^∗p < 0.01 indicates significant increase above the value at the lowest TGF-β1 bath concentration.