Table 2

Histopathologic evaluation of H&E stained cartilage by the Mankin grading method

Items

Normal (n = 7)

NMS (n = 7)

NS (n = 11)

P*

Medial tibial plateau

Structure

0.57 (0.30)^a

2.14 (0.46)^a

5.27 (0.60)^b

0.000

Cell in tangential zone

0.29 (0.18)^a

0.71 (0.18)^a

1.50 (0.15)^b

0.000

Cell in transitional and radial zone

1.00 (0.69)^a

2.57 (0.43)^a

6.05 (0.75)^b

0.000

Pannus formation

0.00 (0.00)^a

0.29 (0.18)^a

1.18 (0.30)^b

0.005

Sum of scores

1.86 (1.12)^a

5.71 (0.84)^b

14.00 (0.75)^c

0.000

Medial femoral condyle

Structure

0.57 (0.30)^a

1.29 (0.47)^ab

2.50 (0.54)^b

0.031

Cell in tangential zone

0.29 (0.18)^a

0.43 (0.20)^ab

0.95 (0.11)^b

0.010

Cell in transitional and radial zone

1.00 (0.69)^a

2.29 (0.68)^a

5.36 (0.78)^b

0.001

Pannus formation

0.00 (0.00)

0.43 (0.20)

0.73 (0.24)

0.062

Sum of scores

1.86 (1.12)^a

4.43 (1.17)^a

9.55 (1.30)^b

0.001

Data represent the means (standard error) for each group. As the severity of cartilage lesions increases, so does the score obtained using the Mankin grading method. The Normal group includes normal articular cartilage group that did not undergo any surgery or treatment. The nutritive mixture solution (NMS) group received NMS after surgery. The normal saline (NS) group received NS after surgery. *Differences among the three groups were considered to be statistically significant when the P value was under 0.05 by one-way analysis of variance and Tukey HSD test, or Kruskal-Wallis test, depending on normality of data. ^a,b,cData with different letters in the three groups are statistically significantly different.

Park et al. Arthritis Research & Therapy 2007 9:R8   doi:10.1186/ar2114