Figure 2.

Nascent proteins and proteoglycans are deposited early and accumulate over time. A) Representative images of accumulated nascent proteins of encapsulated chondrocytes cultured in chondrogenic media for up to 7 d (left, scale bars 10 μm) and radial intensity profiles of nascent proteins (gray). Lines represent median intensity profiles; shaded areas represent standard deviation (n = 40 cells per group from two independent biological experiments). B) Representative images of accumulated nascent proteoglycans of encapsulated chondrocytes cultured in chondrogenic media for up to 7 d (left, scale bars 10 μm) and radial intensity profiles of nascent proteoglycans (cyan). Lines represent median intensity profiles, shaded areas represent standard deviation (n = 40 cells per group from two independent biological experiments). C) Representative cell and corresponding intensity profile plots illustrating the region used to quantify the nascent matrix thickness. D) Quantification of the average thickness of nascent proteins (left) and nascent proteoglycans (right) of encapsulated chondrocytes cultured for up to 7 d (n = 40 cells per group from two independent biological experiments, mean ± SD, **p ≤ 0.01, ****p ≤ 0.0001, two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc).