Figure 2: Plots of in vivo experiments conducted outside the MRI environment show the readings of oxygen partial pressure (A, C) and blood flow (B, D) when the temperature of the joint was steadily changed to a desired value (at least 40°C but not higher than 42°C (for increased temperature) and 32°C, but not lower than 30°C (for decreased temperature), and kept there for as long as it took for the tissue blood parameters to stabilize within reason. The temperature was then set back to normal, and recording of the parameters of interest was again maintained until the parameters stabilized. Please note that it took at least 15 minutes for the physiologic response of pO2 (A) or BPU (B) to increase to the desired point and remain stable at that point, but less than 10 minutes for the pO2 (C) or BPU (D) measurements to decrease to the desired point and remain stable at that point. Once a plateau on pO2 and BPU measurements was reached for increased (A, B, respectively) and decreased (C, D, respectively) local temperature it took approximately 15 minutes for pO2 and BPU measurements to respond to the local temperature forced change towards baseline values.