Fig. 5

Histological evaluation of spontaneous meniscus regeneration and its association with the numbers and areas of colonies. A Representative images of medial meniscus stained with safranin O/fast green. B Meniscus regeneration score (n = 6). *p < 0.05 by the Mann–Whitney U test between the sham and pMx groups (black asterisks). *p < 0.05 by Kruskal–Wallis/Steel tests between the intact and pMx groups (orange asterisks). C Scatterplot of the meniscus regeneration scores and colony numbers or colony areas. The p values were calculated using Spearman’s rank correlation and adjusted using Bonferroni’s correction method