Figure 8. The histological analysis of articular cartilage.

Seven weeks after ^pSP-CS/DNA was injected into the joint cavity, the rabbits were sacrificed, four-micrometer sagittal sections of the medial femoral condyles were stained with HE (A, ×100), Safranin O/fast green (B, ×100) and collagen II (C, ×400, from the enlarged portion of the blue box in figure B). In each transgenic group, cartilage defects were filled with different degrees of nascent cartilage, and this cartilage functioned similarly to the normal cartilage. The co-transfected group of pBudCE4.1-IL-Ra+igf-1/ ^pSP-CS showed greater effects than the other two single-gene-transfected groups.