FIGURE 5.

Large chondrocytes do not arise from the small cells during the isolation procedure. Human articular cartilage tissue was minced finely and digested with 2% collagenase II for 0.5 h. Released cells and undigested cartilage tissue were separate by a cell strainer, transferred into two separate tissue culture tubes, and both samples were replenished with medium containing 2% collagenase II, and were kept at 37°C under constant rotation. After another 0.5, 1.5, and 3.5 h of further digestion, both samples were subjected to cell harvesting, and the cell sizes were determined at each harvesting time point by flow cytometry. FACS histograms and percentages from one experiment are shown illustrating the cell size with the parameter forward light scatter (FSC-A).