Figure 4.

Coronal images of the tibial epiphysis from the surgical mouse model of osteoarthritis (at four weeks post-surgery), acquired by different imaging modalities. (a,c,e) Images of the contralateral (CTRL) non-operated tibia (left knee); (b,d,f) the DMM-operated tibia (right knee) of the same animal. (a,b) SynXPC micro-CT coronal images; (c,d) their respective histological validation (toluidine blue staining of undecalcified sections); (e,f) PTA contrast-enhanced micro-CT images as further validation. No evidence of cartilage lesions on the cartilage surface can be observed in any of images of the DMM-operated tibia (b,d,f). However, an osteophyte (arrow) growing at the medial margin of the joint and lined with a thick new layer of cartilage is clearly visible consistently in all three imaging modalities (b,d,f). (Online version in colour.)