Figure 8.

Type II collagen immunostaining of the treated defects at 6 months after operation/treatment. (A) Low-power magnification of representative photomicrographs of the two treatment groups. The treatment with affinity-bound GF-loaded alginate hydrogel resulted in formation of a continuous cartilage layer. (B) High-power magnification of the defect and distant surrounding tissue in each treatment group. The treatment with affinity-bound GF-loaded alginate hydrogel resulted in similar stain intensity and pattern and morphological similarity to normal hyaline cartilage. In contrast, the treatment with empty hydrogel resulted in marked differences and reduction in stain intensity, mainly showing disorganised hypertrophic tissue and fibrocartilage. Bar = 200 μm. Dotted lines represent original defect borders.

GF = growth factor.