Fig. 5: HUC-MSCs suppressed the activation of M1 macrophages and induced the generation of M2 macrophages in vitro.

BMDMs and PMs were cultured alone (Con group) or in stimulation with LPS and IFN-γ in the absence (LPS + IFN-γ group) or presence of hUC-MSCs co-culturing (hUC-MSCs group). a Immunofluorescence of iNOS⁺-PMs in the three groups. Scale bar, 50 μm. Quantification of iNOS⁺-PMs presented in b was determined by evaluating at least five random fields of each section. c Immunoblotting analysis of iNOS in BMDMs. Relative protein level is quantified by ratio of iNOS to β-tubulin. d Immunofluorescence of Fizz1⁺-PMs in the three groups. Scale bar, 50 μm. Quantification of Fizz1⁺ PMs presented in e was determined by evaluating at least five random fields of each section. f Immunoblotting analysis of Arg1 in BMDMs. Relative protein level is quantified by ratio of Arg1 to β-tubulin. g Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of gene expression in BMDMs from the three groups. Results are presented relative to those of the control group, set as 1. Values are means ± SD of three individual experiments, **p < 0.01. BMDMs bone marrow-derived macrophages, PMs peritoneal macrophages, LPS lipopolysaccharides, IFN- γ interferon- γ, iNOS inducible nitric oxide synthase, Arg1 arginase-1, RT-PCR reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, Nos2 nitric oxide synthase 2, Tgfβ transforming growth factor-β