After establishing long-term repeated activity and viability of these agarose rod constructs in vitro, we investigated their therapeutic potential in arthritis mitigation by implanting freshly created Ccl2-IL1Ra or Ccl2-Luc agarose constructs into 5–8 week old mice for various periods, as depicted in the timeline (Figure 4A). Here, CCL2 is linked to arthritic joint disease.