Figure 5

Sulfated glycosaminoglycan (sGAG) and aggrecan release from meniscal fibrocartilage to conditioned media. (a) Media from day 12 explants were pooled by time points (days 2 + 4, 6 + 8, and 10 + 12) and assayed for sGAG by the dimethylmethylene blue (DMMB) assay. Data are mean + standard error of the mean with n = 6. § indicates P < 0.05 vs. IL-1. (b) Media were then blotted for aggrecan G1 fragments and NITEGE neoepitope. Equal volumes of media, pooled from six explants per condition, were loaded in each lane. Lane 1 = media pooled from days 2 + 4; Lane 2 = media pooled from days 6 + 8; Lane 3 = media pooled from days 10 + 12. Migration of protein standards are shown at left. In lower panels, arrowheads indicate migration of the 64 kDa molecular weight marker. Note that the early sGAG release data from day 12 explants should not be quantitatively compared with the day 4 residual sGAG contents (Figure 4a) from different explants. MMP = matrix metalloproteinases.