Materials:

• Bovine chondrocytes, cat. no. 1020 or 1021
• X VIVO 15® without phenol red (Lonza, Walkersville, MD)
• L-ascorbic acid (add to medium at final concentration of 50 ug/mL)
• TGFß or other agent to stimulate production, if desired

1. Thaw chondrocytes following recommended protocol (www.astartebio.com/thaw).
2. Adjust cell concentration to 1 million per mL.
3. Add 100 ul to each well of a 96 well plate.
4. Prepare agent to modulate cartilage synthesis in medium at twice the desired final concentration.
5. Add agent to wells at 100 ul per well. 
6. Incubate at 37oC for 2-5 days.
7. Remove supernatant and test for type II collagen (see our type II collagen Kit) or proteoglycans using our DMB reagent.

Phenol red cannot be used if the supernatants are tested using the DMB method. 

See sample data on the chondrocyte page. (http://www.astartebio.com/chondrocytes).