Xianju County Hospital of Chinese Medicine 1 article published in JoVE Medicine Development and Evaluation of a Rat Model of Full-Thickness Cartilage Defects Haiyan Zhang*1, Ronghua Bao*2, Jiaan Xu3, Yanzhi Ge4, Zuxiang Chen1, Mengqiang Fan1, Guangping Yu5, Li Zhou1, Le Guo3, Letian Shan1, Hangxing Bao1 1The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, 2Fuyang Orthopaedics and Traumatology Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, 3College of Pharmaceutical Science, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, 4Affiliated Zhejiang Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, 5Xianju County Hospital of Chinese Medicine This protocol establishes a full-thickness cartilage defects (FTCD) model by drilling holes in the femoral trochlear groove of rats and measuring the subsequent pain behavior and histopathological changes.