Fig. 3.

Effect of intra-articular injection of Stempeucel® on pain reduction and cartilage repair in an osteoarthritic rat model. a The effect of Stempeucel® on pain reduction at week 0 (before cell injection), and at weeks 4, 8, and 12 after cell injection. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001 versus hyaluronic acid (HA)-treated group. b Photomicrographs of representative joint sections of femoral condyle stained with H&E at 4 (a–e), 8 (f–j), and 12 weeks (k–o) after Stempeucel® treatment. Osteoarthritic changes, such as loss of chondrocytes (*), loss of cartilage (vertical arrow), and fibrillation (thin arrow) are evident in vehicle-treated and HA-treated joints. Proliferation of chondrocytes (thick arrow), regeneration, and repair of cartilage tissue was evident in Stempeucel®-treated groups. Scale bars = 100 μm, magnification 10×. H high dose of Stempeucel®, L Low dose of Stempeucel®, MIA mono-iodoacetate, ns not significant