Table 2.

Macroscopical and microscopical evaluation and scoring of cartilage degeneration.

Evaluation criteria	Degeneration
Macroscopical appearancea	Normal	Mild	Moderate	Severe
Brightness of articular surface
Fissures	0	1	2	3
Osteophytes
Histological appearance
Cartilage structure	None	Mild	Moderate
Surface irregularity	0	1	2
Fissures extending to transitional zone	0	1	2
Fissures extending to deep zone	0	1	2
Transverse fissures	0	1
Transverse fissures with tissue loss			2
Cellular properties	None	Mild	Moderate	Severe
Clonning	0	1	2	3
Hypocellularity	0	1	2	3
Decrease in Safranin-O staining	Normal	Mild	Moderate	Severe
	0	1	2	3

^aScoring was the result of the evaluation of 3 parameters.