FAIM Enhances the Efficacy of Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation by Inhibiting JNK-Induced c-FLIP Ubiquitination and Degradation

Figure 1

FAIM protected MSCs against apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. (a) MSCs were cultured for 12 h under OGD conditions or normoxic conditions, and the mRNA level of FAIM was determined by qPCR and normalized to GAPDH. (b) Immunoblot analysis and densitometric quantification of FAIM protein levels under OGD conditions or normoxic conditions. GAPDH served as a loading control. (c) Annexin V-APC/PI staining was performed, and flow cytometry was used to determine the apoptosis rate. The apoptosis rate was calculated as the sum of the percentages of Annexin V⁺/PI^- cells and Annexin V⁺/PI⁺ cells. (d) TUNEL staining after FAIM overexpression followed by OGD stimulation for 12 h (). Quantitative results are shown on the right. Six visual fields were randomly chosen for each well; the apoptotic index was determined as the percentage of TUNEL-positive nuclei. (e) Cleaved caspase 3 protein expression after FAIM overexpression or vector infection followed by OGD stimulation. The results of densitometric quantitation are shown on the right. (f) Representative images showing GFP immunofluorescence (IF) staining 3 days after LAD ligation followed by MSC transplantation. GFP appears in green, cardiac troponin I (cTnI) in red, and nuclei in blue. (). Quantitative results are shown on the right ( for the MSCs_Vec group and MSCs_FAIM group). Data are shown as the . denotes , .

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)