Figure 3.

The effect of the autologous bone mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-derived extracellular matrix (ECM) scaffolds on the number of bone MSCs in the healing cartilage. The colony-forming unit fibroblast (CFU-F) assay was performed to examine the total number of bone mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in the area of healing in the bone marrow stimulation (BMS) group and the extracellular matrix (ECM) group (A). The total number of mononuclear cells in the joint showed a significant difference between the MSC group and the BMS group (B). The total CFU-F of bone MSCs was approximately two-fold higher in the ECM group compared with the BMS group (C).