Fig. 1.

Physical and biological characterization of HA microscaffolds loaded with EPO. (A) Fluorescence imaging (100x) of the FITC-conjugated microscaffolds; (B) size distribution calculated using ImageJ. (C) A representative SEM image of the microscaffolds; (D) In vitro cytotoxicity of HA microscaffolds using primary human chondrocytes and Alamar Blue assay. (Mean ± SD; n = 3; p = 0.197) (E) EPO release profile from HA microscaffolds (F) Recruitment of the human MSCs toward various groups (control, HA microscaffolds [labeled as “scaffold”], free EPO, or EPO released from scaffolds [labeled as “Released EPO”]) using Transwell migration assay. (Mean ± SD; n = 3; **p < 0.01).