Fig. 4

UTMD combined with PDGF-BB pretreatment further increases the cardiac engraftment of MSCs. (A) Schematic illustration of the transplantation of GFP-labeled MSCs mediated by UTMD. (B) Experimental scheme and timeline for cardiac homing studies using GFP-labeled MSCs-vehicle and MSCs-PDGF-BB. (C) Real-time PCR for the rat Sry gene in female rat hearts on day 3 and day 30 after MI. (D-E) Flow cytometric analysis of GFP-labeled MSCs in hearts. (F) Representative images of GFP-labeled MSCs in hearts on day 3 and day 30 after MI. Heart tissue was immunostained for α-actin (red) and DAPI (blue). Engrafted MSCs are GFP positive. Bar, 50 μm. (G-H) Quantification of MSCs in the peri-infarct area was determined by the number of GFP-positive MSCs in a representative section. Values are the mean ± SEM. Significant differences were determined by Student’s t test. N = 5/group. *p < 0.05 vs. Day MI-MSC-vehicle.