Fig. 1: MSCs attenuate depressive and anxiety-like behaviors.
a Schematic of the experimental timeline. HDF, human dermal fibroblast. b Body weight changes after CRS. Kruskal-Wallis test: **** P = 0.0000094. n = 8 mice. c, d Representative traces and statistical analysis of OFT. Total distance, one-way ANOVA: F(3, 44) = 0.46 ns P = 0.71. Center distance, one-way ANOVA: F(3, 44) = 7.4 *** P = 0.00039. Center time, Brown-Forsythe ANOVA test: *** P = 0.00094. n = 12 mice. e, f Representative traces and statistical analysis of EPM. Open arms time, one-way ANOVA: F(3, 44) = 9.9 **** P = 0.000042. Open arms entry number, Kruskal-Wallis test: ** P = 0.0018. n = 12 mice. g Statistical analysis of TST. One-way ANOVA: F(3, 44) = 10.16 **** P = 0.000033. n = 12 mice. h Schematic illustrating experimental protocol. i qRT-PCR detection. One-way ANOVA: F(2, 6) = 27.49 *** P = 0.0010. n = 3 biologically independent samples. j Western blot detection. One-way ANOVA: F(2, 6) = 15.94 ** P = 0.0040. n = 3 biologically independent samples. k, l Representative images and quantification of 5-HT and c-Fos colocalization. Scale bar, 100 µm. c-Fos+ and 5-HT+ count, Brown-Forsythe ANOVA test: ****P = 0.0000044. c-Fos+ and 5-HT+ (% of c-Fos + ), one-way ANOVA: F(3, 24) = 31.38 **** P = 0.000000018. n = 7 mice. m Representative traces of electrical activity in stressed mice. n Firing rates. Two-tailed t test: t = 3.785, df = 18, ** P = 0.0014. n = 10 neurons from three independent experiments. o Schematic diagram for optic fiber recordings. p Representative image showing GCaMP6 expression in DRN. q Representative traces of integrated calcium signals from 5-HTDRN neurons. Statistical analysis. Two-tailed t test: t = 8.036, df = 16, **** P = 0.00000052. n = 9 mice. r The 5-HT level change. One-way ANOVA: F(2, 18) = 26.29 **** P = 0.0000045. n = 7 mice. Illustrations created with BioRender.com. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
