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 regularity^a
Smooth (>3/4)	0
Moderate (>112-314)	1
Irregular (1/41/2)	2
Severely irregular (<1/4)	3
Thickness of cartilage^b
>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.