Figure 7.

Chondrocyte gene expression was dependent on encapsulation in collagen matrices. a) Chondrocytes encapsulated in collagen matrices showed different gene expression from both native cartilage cells and monolayer-cultured chondrocytes (p<0.05, log-scale, full statistical analysis Table S1). Genes analyzed include extracellular matrix proteins and chondrogenic markers (left), and nuclear structural proteins (right), to measure the cellular response to their microenvironment normalized to the negative control monolayer group (total gene and associated proteins listed in Table S2). b) Comparison across strain magnitudes (linear scale) and c) density regions (linear scale) showed trends but no statistical difference (p>0.05) in expression of any gene measured at 1 week of culture compared to the nondensified collagen matrices. All data presented as mean±SEM.