Fig. 2.

In vitro characterization of HA microscaffolds. (A) The fluorescent intensity of FITC-conjugated HA microscaffolds associated with different numbers of human chondrocytes. (B) The fluorescent intensity of CD44 receptor associated with different numbers of human chondrocytes. (C) There was a good linear relationship between the amount of HA microscaffolds and the extent of CD44 receptor expression with an R² of 0.97. (D) Time and dose-dependent fluorescent images of osteoarthritic human tissue incubated with different concentrations of HA microscaffolds (0.02, 0.1 and 0.5 mg/ml). (n = 6) (E) The fluorescent intensities of all tissue incubated with different concentrations of HA microscaffolds for different periods of time (up to 180 min) were calculated and compared. (n = 6). (F) The fluorescent intensity associated to HA microscaffolds incubated with OA human explant tissue pre-treated with CD44 blocking antibody or control. (Mean ± SD; n = 3; *p < 0.5, **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001).