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

Figure 2

MSCs_FAIM improved cardiac function and reduced infarction size. (a) Representative echocardiographic images of the left ventricle in M-mode on days 3, 7, 14, and 28 after LAD ligation followed by MSCs engraftment. (b) Ejection fraction (EF) and (c) fractional shortening (FS) were quantified ( for the sham group, for the DMEM and MSCs_Vec groups, and for the MSCs_FAIM group). (d) Representative Sirius Red staining of ischemic hearts 28 days after MI. (e) Scar size was calculated as the sum of the ratio of the endocardial plus epicardial scar length relative to the total circumference ( for the DMEM and MSCs_Vec groups and for the MSCs_FAIM group). (f–g) Representative images showing CD31 immunofluorescence staining in the peri-ischemic area 28 days after MI. CD31 appears in green, cardiac troponin I (cTnI) in red, and nuclei in blue (). Quantitative results are shown on the right ( for the DMEM and MSCs_Vec groups and for the MSCs_FAIM group). (h–i) Representative images showing α-SMA IF staining. α-SMA appears in green; . Quantitative results are shown on the right ( for the DMEM and MSCs_Vec groups and for the MSCs_FAIM group). Vessels in the peri-ischemic area were counted in 5 randomly chosen fields. The data are shown as the . indicates not significant; denotes .

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