Fig. 1.

The effect of Pred and Dex in combination with HA on cell cytotoxicity. The LDH content of the cartilage explant treatments was calculated and compared with the control group. After the 14-day treatment period, the culture media were analyzed for LDH release, as previously described. The results are expressed as a percentage relative to the control group. The white bar denotes the control; the light gray bars denote the HA-treated or the co-treated groups; and the dark gray bars denote the steroid-treated groups. The data are expressed as the mean ± SD (n = 3). Significant differences are considered to exist when p < 0.05: “a” stands for significant differences compared with the control group; “b” denotes significant differences compared with HA; dagger (‡) stands for significant differences compared with all Pred-treated groups; and asterisk (*) denotes significant differences between the treatment groups