Fig. 5From: Yields and chondrogenic potential of primary synovial mesenchymal stem cells are comparable between rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis patientsChondrogenic potential. Synovial MSCs from RA and OA patients were pelleted and cultured in chondrogenic medium for 21 days. a Representative macro pictures. b Histological sections stained with safranin O. c Histological sections immunostained with type II collagen. d Wet weight of the pellets. Average values with standard deviations are shown (n = 6). e Bern score for the evaluation of safranin O-stained cartilage pellet. f sGAG content per pellet. g Aggrecan and COL2A1 mRNA expression by real-time RT-PCR analyses. Gene expression fold changes are shown where the expression levels were normalized to OA as 1. Average values with standard deviations are shown (n = 6; RA: # 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7; OA: # 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14). OA osteoarthritis, RA rheumatoid arthritis, sGAG sulfated glycosaminoglycanBack to article page