Table 1.

Effect of HGF on articular cartilage in vitro and in vivo.

Study	Cell Type and Animal Model	Effects
Takebayashi et al. (1995)	In vitro Rabbit, rat-chondrocytes	Increased cell proliferation Promotion of proteoglycan synthesis
Wakitani et al. (1997)	In vivo Rabbit-full thickness defect	Repaired with closely resembling hyaline cartilage
Reboul et al. (2001)	In vitro Human chondrocytes	Increased both the expression and synthesis of collagenase 3
Bau et al. (2004)	In vitro Human chondrocytes	No change in proteoglycan expression and synthesis No influence in the expression of collagenase and aggrecan degrading enzyme
Tibesku et al. (2011)	In vivo Sheep-osteochondral transplantation	Increased cellularity of the transplanted graft Not diminished the fissures in the marginal zone of the graft