Photographs showing osteochondral explant harvesting from the bovine metacarpophalangeal joint: a) a sterile number-24 scalpel blade was used to acquire explants from the proximal limb; b) due to the convex nature of the number-24 scalpel blade, a steady forward and backward ‘rocking’ movement of the blade yielded explants with approximately 0.5 mm subchondral bone attached; c) the explants were immediately transferred to a vessel containing sterile Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium using the harvesting blade i.e. a ‘no touch’ technique; d) an example of a typical oval explant (scale bar = 1 cm).