Fig. 6

Transplantation of PDGF-BB-primed MSCs via UTMD reduces cardiomyocyte apoptosis and improves angiogenesis in rat hearts post-MI. (A) Representative images of TUNEL-positive cardiomyocytes in the ischemic area 30 days after MI. Apoptotic nuclei were identified as TUNEL positive (green fluorescence), and total nuclei were identified by DAPI counterstaining (blue fluorescence). Myocardium was stained using a monoclonal antibody against cardiac troponin I (red fluorescent). Bar, 20 μm. (B). Quantification of TUNEL-positive cardiomyocytes. (C-F) Western blotting of activated caspase 3, Bax, and BCL-2 in the ischemic heart. GAPDH was used as a loading control. (G) Representative images of CD31 staining and α-SMA staining in the ischemic hearts of rats 30 days post-MI. Bar, 20 μm. (H) Quantitative analysis of the capillary density in the ischemic heart. (I) Quantitative analysis of the arteriole density in the ischemic heart. (J-M) Protein expression of VEGF, bFGF and IGF-1 determined by Western blotting in ischemic myocardium, with GAPDH as the internal control. Values are the mean ± SEM. Significant differences were determined by using one-way ANOVA. N = 5/group. *p < 0.01 vs. MI; # p < 0.01 vs. MI-MSC-vehicle