Fig. 2

Metabolic activity and ECM turnover in bovine cartilage explants. Bovine cartilage explants were pre-cultured for 1 week, and then cultured for further 5 weeks with weekly administration (48 h duration) of indicated compounds. Metabolic activity (a) was measured using AlamarBlue after 5 weeks of compound-culturing. ProC2 (b), C2M (c), AGNx2 (d) and AGNx1 (e) (Nordic Bioscience) was measured in conditioned media collected at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 weeks of compound-culturing. Values of biomarkers were placebo-corrected and all data presented as mean ± SEM of six replicate explants. One-way ANOVA was used for multiple comparisons to the placebo group at each time point. Significance levels are indicated by asterisks; *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. Results from two studies are shown in separate graphs (Left, Study 2; Right, Study 3)