Figure 5.

Effective load-bearing area vs time. The sample loaded area plotted as a function of time for all three experimental protocols. There is a rapid loss in the area after the addition of collagenase for all three continuously loaded samples. No loss is shown for the unloaded sample as it was not possible to probe the sample without load. However, upon reloading, the fraction of area remaining converged on the data from the 0.1N sample. Vertical bars are standard deviations. Differences in remaining area were statistically significant for loading conditions: 0.1 N vs 0.25 N and 0.1 N vs 0.5 N. There were no statistically significant differences between the 0.25 and 0.5 N runs.