Fig. 1: Equine middle carpal joint illustration and study timeline.

An illustration (a) of the equine middle carpal joint indicating the area where the osteochondral chip fragment was induced (close-up view shown in inset circle). Rectangular boxes indicate areas from which samples were taken for cartilage histology. The solid vertical line indicates areas in which osteochondral blocks were harvested for histological assessment of cartilage and subchondral bone. Diagram modified from Frisbie et al. Gene Therapy, 2002 with permission. b The study timeline with color-coded flags illustrating the time points at which treatments were administered, lameness evaluations, and sample collections were performed.