Figure 5

Suppression of AD by cMSCs. (a) Scheme of AD mouse model. Mice were immunized with OVA/Alum on days 0, 7, and 14 and epicutaneously sensitized with OVA patches on day 21 for 1 week. The cMSCs were intravenously injected 3 times between the epicutaneous sensitization procedures. The mice were killed on day 43, and the harvested OVA patch skin lesions. (b) Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining of mice treated with PBS or cMSCs. Toluidine blue staining (lower panels) shows mast cell infiltration in mice skin. T cells in skin specimens were identified by FITC-conjugated anti-CD3 antibodies. Data are representative of three experiments. (c) Skin scoring, thickness, and leukocyte counts in mice skin shown as mean±S.E.M.; n=6 mice per group. HPF, high-powered field ( × 400). (d) The serum levels of total and OVA-specific antibodies were measured by ELISA. (e) IL-4 mRNA was detected either in lymph nodes or skin lesion, as determined by real-time PCR. (f) Levels of several cytokines in draining lymph nodes were determined by real-time PCR. (d–f) Each single dot in the graphs shows individual mouse results. Similar results were obtained in two to three independent experiments. Allo, allogeneic; Syn, syngeneic. ^†P<0.05, *P<0.01 and **P<0.001. Scale bar=100 μm in all photomicrographs