Figure 9. Relative gene expression of chondrogenic pellets and cell-scaffold constructs over time.

Collagen type II gene expression, which is not expressed at week 0, is significantly increased over time in both pellet and cell-scaffold cultures (*p<0.05; Friedman’s test). Other chondrogenic genes such as aggrecan and SOX9 all increase over time however they were less significant. Collagen type I was present from the outset in both cultures and remained elevated throughout, however changes were not statistically significant. These results represent 3 separate experiments using 3 separate biological replicates (N = 3) as well as triplicate internal replicates for each qPCR reaction. Mean plotted with error bars representing the SEM.