Bcl-xL Genetic Modification Enhanced the Therapeutic Efficacy of Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation in the Treatment of Heart Infarction

Figure 5

Engraftment of transplanted MSCs into infarcted myocardium. ((a)–(n)) Evaluation of MSC engraftment into the ischemic heart muscle at 1 week ((a)–(f)) and 4 weeks ((g)–(n)) after vector-MSCs ((a)–(c) and (g)–(j)) or hBcl-xL-MSCs ((d)–(f) and (k)–(n)) transplantation. Cell nuclei were stained with DAPI ((a), (d), (g), and (k)). The grafted MSCs were detected by EGFP signals ((b), (e), (h), and (l)) which appeared as irregular patches due to the cytoplasmic distribution of EGFP. The expanded squared areas in (c), (f), (j), and (n) indicate the MSC engraftments where the EGFP signals colocalized with DAPI. Myocardium was showed by Troponin T staining 4 weeks after cell injection ((i) and (m)). (o) MSC engraftment in vector-MSC group (dark grey bar) and hBcl-xL-MSC group (black bar) was presented as the ratio of IOD and total cell number per HPF. Values are mean ± SD (, ). EGFP: enhanced green fluorescent protein; DAPI: 4,6-diamino-2-phenyl indole; IOD: integral optical density; HPF: high-power field. Scale bar represents 50 μm (c) and 30 μm (j), respectively.

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