Figure 4

Approximately another fifty percent of the aged specimens (Fig 4 (C )) from human femoral heads display a similar physiological condition (approximate ICRS Grade 1) to a small proportion of arthritic cartilage specimens (Figs 4( C1)) from human femoral heads and the cartilage (from cow femoral heads) physically peeled off the lamina splendens (Fig 4 (C2 )). These cartilage specimens, as shown in Figs (A), (A1) and (A 2), also have a 3D collagen structure similar to each other and contain the collagen fibres that oriented predominantly in a spatial direction perpendicular to the AC surface. Figs 4(B), (B1) and (B2) are the corresponding MBI images, which are analogous to enface 2D images. Figs 4(C), (C1) and (C2) are the corresponding histology used for ICRS grading. The field of the 3D collagen network in images