Fig. 4: Establishment of a rabbit model of cavernosum injury and MRI examination. | Nature Communications

Fig. 4: Establishment of a rabbit model of cavernosum injury and MRI examination.

From: Functional reconstruction of injured corpus cavernosa using 3D-printed hydrogel scaffolds seeded with HIF-1α-expressing stem cells

Fig. 4

a Surgical process of implanting cell-free and cell-loaded heparin-coated 3D hydrogel scaffolds to repair injured cavernosum. b MRI images showing five different implantation groups (negative control, cell-free, MDSCs, vector and mHIF-1α) of the cavernosum scar area (marked as red arrows in a circle) 2 and 4 months after implantation and positive control group showing equal MRI signal. (The scale bar is 20 mm in upper images at low magnification and 5 mm in lower images at high magnification.) c, d Statistical chart of the scar area in (b) on month 2 (c) and month 4 (d) post implantation (n = 3). Data are displayed as mean ± SD and analysed by two-way ANOVA with Sidak's multiple comparisons test in (c) (**p = 0.0028; ***p = 0.0001; ****p < 0.0001) and d (*p = 0.0108; **p = 0.0055; ***p = 0.0001).

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