FIG. 4.

Predicted effect of CPCs on the bulk compressive modulus of cartilage tissue and its dependence on bath salinity. (A) Electrostatic component of the compressive modulus (${H_A}^{ES}$) of healthy cartilage following CPC equilibration at physiological salinity. Values were calculated using experimentally observed equilibrium uptake of each CPC variant. (B) Dependence of ${H_A}^{ES}$ on surrounding salinity C₀, calculated for healthy cartilage holding the intratissue CPC concentration constant. (C) Predicted reduction in ${H_A}^{ES}$ induced by CPC variants across a range of bath salt concentrations, compared with ${H_A}^{ES}$ of an untreated control tissue at each salinity level.