which takes into account the grading and staging components. Five sections for each specimen were evaluated by two blinded investigators. Minimal score is 0, indicating no cartilage pathology whatsoever, whereas 30 is the maximum score, indicating highest grade (6) and stage (5). For scoring of synovial activation, Hematoxylin Eosin (HE) staining was used. Synovial thickening/activation was scored using an arbitrary score from 0 to 3 as previous described. Saf-O stained sections were used to measure the size of chondrophytes/osteophytes using an image analysis system (Leica Application Suite, Leica).