Figure 4.

Effect of CHs on collagen synthesis and proteoglycan release from OA cartilage. (A) Incorporation of [³H]-proline and [¹⁴C]-proline into collagen of human cartilage explants was determined by measuring the radioactivity in hydroxyproline. The [¹⁴C/³H] incorporation ratio was then calculated and expressed as the percentage of untreated control (100%) in the presence of 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2 and 10 mg/mL of Mobiforte^®, Peptan^® F 5000 or Peptan^® F 2000. Data are the mean + SD (n = 4–5); (B) Proteoglycan loss from cartilage explants into nutrient media in the presence of various concentrations of CHs was determined during the treatment period, lasting six days. Data were calculated as the percentage of total proteoglycans found in the media and corresponding explants (=100%); data shown are the mean + SD (n = 6). p-values equal or less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant: * 0.01 < p ≤ 0.05, *** p ≤ 0.001.