Figure 4

Effect of oxygen tension, FN-f and dynamic compression on catabolic and anabolic activities.  Chondrocyte/agarose constructs were cultured at 5 and 21% oxygen tension with 0 or 1 μM FN-f or 10 ng/ml IL-1β and/or 1 mM L-NIO for 48 hour, where NO release (A), PGE₂ production (B), MMP activity (C) and GAG synthesis (D). Error bars represent the mean and SEM of 8 to 12 replicates from three separate experiments, where (*) indicates comparisons between the different treatment groups and (ψ) indicates comparisons in unstrained constructs between untreated and IL-1β at 5 or 21% oxygen tension. All other comparisons were not significant (not indicated).