FIGURE 1.

Study methods. Tissue explants and cells were harvested from the inner and outer zone of porcine menisci and subjected to dynamic cyclic loading (tissue: 10% axial compression, cells: 5% biaxial stretch) with or without IL-1α stimulation (0.1 ng/ml). RNA sequencing was performed on both tissue explants and cells to identify pathways and gene targets differentially expressed with load and IL-1α stimulation in inner and outer zones. For the cell stretch samples, RT-qPCR was performed to validate gene targets identified from RNA sequencing analysis.