Fig. 3

UTMD promotes the cardiac homing of MSCs by upregulating SDF-1. (A) Representative bioluminescence imaging of different organs harvested at 3 days after MI. (B) Quantification of bioluminescence signals from isolated organs of SD rats. Values are the mean ± SEM. Significant differences were determined by Student’s t test. N = 5. *p < 0.05 vs. MI-MSC. (C) Quantification of MSC retention in different organs in each group by PCR for the Y chromosome-specific Sry gene. Values are the mean ± SEM. Significant differences were determined by Student’s t test. N = 5. *p < 0.05 vs. MI-MSC. (D-E) Quantification of GFP-positive MSCs in whole hearts by flow cytometry. Values are the mean ± SEM. Significant differences were determined by Student’s t test. N = 5. *p < 0.05 vs. MI-MSC. (F-G) Western blotting and quantitative analysis of SDF-1 protein levels in ischemic myocardium. Values are the mean ± SEM. Significant differences were determined by using one-way ANOVA. N = 5/group. † p < 0.01 vs. Sham; ‡ p < 0.01 vs. MI; * p < 0.01 vs. MI-MSC. (H) Quantitative analysis of GFP-labeled MSCs in whole hearts by flow cytometry. Values are the mean ± SEM. Significant differences were determined by using one-way ANOVA. N = 5. *p < 0.01 vs. MI-MSC, # p < 0.01 vs. MI-MSC-UTMD