Human Umbilical Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Mixed with Hyaluronan Transplantation Decreased Cartilage Destruction in a Rabbit Osteoarthritis Model

Figure 4

Knee joint MRI studies (HUCMSC cells+HA and normal saline control) at 6 weeks and 12 weeks (). (a) and (c) are taken from the same rabbit while (b) and (d) are from another. (e) The joints receiving HUCMSC+HA therapy show a significant decrease of the severity of osteoarthritis at 6 weeks than normal saline control knees, but they show no significant reduction of the severity of osteoarthritis at 12 weeks. AP: anterior-posterior view; Lat: lateral view; Ctrl: control. (f) The comparison of the number of rabbits and percentage of rabbits with mild and severe joint destruction diagnosed by MRI examination between normal saline control and treatment groups. Left panel and right panel revealed the lesion observed at 6 and 12 weeks after treatment, respectively. The value in 6 and 12 weeks between the two groups is 0.008 and 0.5, respectively.