Table 1.

Mean ± standard deviation (SD) within each sub-tissue zone for all measurements from medial tibia cartilage specimens at each OA-time-point with and without loading

Sub-tissue Zone	8wk-Contralateral		8wk-OA		12wk-Contralateral		12wk-OA
Sub-tissue Zone	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
T2(0°)-Unloaded [ms]
Bulk	26.0	7.1	26.4	6.0	31.1	9.1	29.7	6.6
SZ	53.6	15.1	59.1	12.9	58.3	20.7	66.2	17.4
TZ	54.9	13.1	56.7	11.4	64.5	18.8	63.9	17.6
RZ1	23.3	8.1	24.4	7.2	30.5	9.5	27.7	6.5
RZ2	9.9	2.8	9.6	2.0	13.4	4.1	11.6	2.2
T2(0°)-Loaded [ms]
Bulk	25.7 ^c	7.4	26.1 ^c	6.2	24.2 ^c	3.8	25.5 ^b	4.1
SZ	36.6 ^a	10.8	37.7 ^a	9.7	30.5 ^b	4.9	31.8 ^a	5.7
TZ	45.3 ^a	11.9	46.4 ^a	11.1	43.1 ^b	5.3	48.1 ^b	12.1
RZ1	22.3 ^c	10.1	22.1 ^b	7.2	21.8 ^b	4.3	23.6 ^b	4.6
RZ2	9.6 ^c	3.9	8.9 ^c	2.6	11.2 ^b	2.2	11.5 ^c	3.5
T2(55°)-Unloaded [ms]
Bulk	45.4	10.4	49.2	8.8	46.7	12.3	48.2	10.8
SZ	56.6	13.7	58.9	11.3	49.3	18.1	63.2	12.3
TZ	58.6	13.7	62.8	11.5	55.4	20.6	64.9	11.7
RZ1	50.0	13.1	54.6	12.6	53.3	20.4	56.0	16.5
RZ2	32.6	9.7	34.7	8.6	36.5	12.4	35.6	8.0
T2(55°)-Loaded [ms]
Bulk	36.7	10.3	37.5 ^a	9.3	39.0 ^a	9.7	40.0 ^a	7.8
SZ	37.5 ^a	12.0	35.5 ^a	9.9	30.8 ^b	5.2	37.0 ^b	9.3
TZ	44.7 ^a	11.9	45.4 ^a	11.9	46.3 ^c	9.3	50.6 ^b	13.5
RZ1	39.8 ^a	13.9	41.1 ^a	11.9	49.0 ^c	15.5	45.6 ^b	15.0
RZ2	26.8 ^b	9.2	28.0 ^a	8.4	35.6 ^c	11.1	31.7 ^c	11.3
Real Thickness-Unloaded [μm]
Bulk	1062.8	301.9	1133.4	367.0	1148.7	337.9	1152.5	321.0
SZ	40.5	13.2	43.7	22.9	33.7	14.0	28.4	11.4
TZ	150.8	34.5	152.0	44.2	161.3	45.5	157.0	42.8
RZ1	438.2	145.2	468.8	172.2	456.1	121.8	449.5	116.9
RZ2	428.9	144.0	468.4	172.4	447.3	123.2	437.3	117.4
Real Thickness-Loaded [μm]
Bulk	826.2 ^a	322.0	816.0 ^a	250.0	839.7 ^a	184.0	867.4 ^a	221.3
SZ	44.0 ^c	20.0	44.8 ^c	22.5	42.5 ^b	14.0	50.1 ^a	14.1
TZ	166.0 ^c	52.7	183.5 ^c	84.4	170.1 ^c	40.6	155.6 ^c	39.2
RZ1	316.8 ^a	145.9	299.2 ^a	105.1	319.7 ^a	82.2	326.3 ^a	106.8
RZ2	305.7 ^a	143.3	288.5 ^a	107.3	312.4 ^a	78.8	320.9 ^a	106.1
Relative Thickness-Unloaded [%]
SZ	4.0	1.4	4.2	3.0	3.3	1.8	3.8	3.8
TZ	14.9	3.8	14.5	5.8	15.5	6.3	15.1	4.3
RZ1	41.0	2.1	40.7	3.9	40.9	3.7	41.6	2.3
RZ2	40.1	2.2	40.6	4.0	40.2	4.0	40.5	2.3
Relative Thickness-Loaded [%]
SZ	5.9 ^b	3.0	6.7 ^b	5.7	5.2 ^b	2.1	6.3 ^c	2.6
TZ	21.0 ^a	5.7	22.9 ^a	6.3	20.9 ^b	6.7	19.4 ^b	6.5
RZ1	37.5 ^a	3.8	36.2 ^a	4.9	37.4 ^b	4.0	37.5 ^b	4.4
RZ2	35.9 ^a	3.4	34.7 ^a	5.2	36.5 ^b	3.7	36.8 ^b	4.3
Strain [%]
Bulk	23.2	13.8	26.4	13.5	25.8	13.7	27.0	10.5
Zone	23.2	13.8	26.4	13.5	19.6	9.5	24.6	13.8

The statistical results of the paired student t-test between unloaded and loaded on parameters were shown by the superscript letter:

P<0.001,

p<0.05,

p>0.05