Transplantation of Human Umbilical Cord-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Improves Cartilage Repair in a Rabbit Model
Table 1
Histological grading scale for the defects of the cartilage (Wakitani et al. [13]).
Category
Points
Cell morphology
Hyaline cartilage
0
Mostly hyaline cartilage
1
Mostly fibrocartilage
2
Mostly noncartilage
3
Noncartilage only
4
Matrix-staining (metachromasia)
Normal (compared with the host adjacent cartilage)
0
Slightly reduced
1
Markedly reduced
2
No metachromatic stain
3
Surface regularitya
Smooth (>3/4)
0
Moderate (>112-314)
1
Irregular (1/41/2)
2
Severely irregular (<1/4)
3
Thickness of cartilageb
>2/3
0
1/3-2/3
1
<1/3
2
Integration of donor with host adjacent cartilage
Both edges integrated
0
One edge integrated
1
Neither edge integrated
2
Total maximum
14
aTotal smooth area of the reparative cartilage compared with the entire area of the cartilage defect. bAverage thickness of the reparative cartilage compared with that of the surrounding cartilage.