Fig 4.

The effects on fluorescent micrographs one hour after exposure of bovine articular cartilage to saline (a, e), 0.125% bupivacaine (b, f), 0.25% bupivacaine (c, g) and 0.5% bupivacaine (d, h) for 30 minutes. Cartilage with intact surfaces (a to d) shows increased chondrocyte surface death after exposure to 0.5% bupivacaine only whereas that with the superficial 1 mm removed (e to h) shows increased surface chondrocyte death with exposure to both 0.25% and 0.5% bupivacaine. No difference in the viability of chondrocytes was seen after exposure to 0.125% bupivacaine (fluorescent nuclei stained red; viable chondrocytes stained green, calibration bar 250 μm).