ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to increase understanding of common experimental procedures used in cartilage biology and tissue engineering research. It is also intended as a companion to Chapter 5. In this regard, we seek to provide a balance between highly detailed instructions and general conceptual protocols; those included here are not meant to be exhaustive for cartilage biology. It is expected that these protocols will allow for a basic conceptual understanding of the techniques employed in cartilage biology and engineering. These protocols can also serve as a set of “recipes” for investigators and guide them to basic assays related to articular cartilage. It is understood that often multiple variations on a specic assay exist. With these factors in mind, the authors have chosen protocols on the basis of tried and true techniques. Often, a generic but detailed version of the protocol has been prepared to accommodate for variations in equipment and supplies available. It should be noted that several other series of protocol books are available from publishers such as Wiley, Springer, and others. For molecular biology techniques, the Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual set available from Cold Spring Harbor is quite comprehensive.
