Figure 3.

Macroscopic analysis of the inhibitory effect of cultured MSCs versus thawed cryopreserved MSCs on osteoarthritis (OA) progression in rats. (A) Scheme. For the rat OA model, PBS was injected into the knee and 10⁶ cultured MSCs suspended in PBS were injected into contralateral knee every week from 2 weeks. Also, 95% FBS with 5% DMSO was injected into the knee and 10⁶ thawed MSCs suspended in 95% FBS with 5% DMSO without compensation with viability were injected into contralateral knee every week from 2 weeks. The knee cartilage was assessed to compare the left and right sides of the same individual at 4 weeks (Supplementary Figs. S1, S2) and 8 weeks. (B) Representative macroscopic images for medial tibial and femoral condyles stained with India ink. The images in cultured and thawed groups are inverted horizontally for ease of comparison. Yellow arrow head indicates cartilage erosion. PM, posteromedial; AM, anteromedial. (C) Gross finding score. *p < 0.05 by Wilcoxon's signed rank test (n = 6).