Figure 1

Obtaining OA cartilage and loading of cartilage tissues. (A) Tibial condyles were obtained from a medially involved OA knee at surgery, and PRES and DEG were obtained from a macroscopically preserved area on a lateral condyle (solid line) and a degenerated area on a medial condyle (broken line), respectively. (B) Acquired cartilage was placed on a graph paper and photographed to determine a surface area. (C) Cartilage tissue (thin arrow) was placed in a plastic bag (bold arrow) with a corresponding amount of PBS, which was heat-sealed and placed on a platform of a universal testing machine (open arrow) for loading.