Figure 5
Evaluation of liver regeneration in non-necrotic areas by PCNA immunostaining. (a) Representative photomicrographs (×100) of PCNA staining at 6 h and 48 h after hepatic IRI in Sham surgery (left), vehicle treatment (left middle), 2D UC-MSCs treatment (right middle) and 3D UC-MSCs treatment (right) groups. Few hepatocytes were PCNA positive in the Sham surgery group at 6 and 48 h time points. The hepatic IRI induced a significant proliferation of hepatocytes in the non-necrosis areas of liver. Some inflammatory cells were also PCNA positive as showed in higher magnification (×400). (b) Cell cycle progression (per 1,000 hepatocytes) at different time points according to the PCNA staining pattern. At 48 h after hepatic IRI, the vehicle and 2D UC-MSCs treatment group had significantly more hepatocytes entering cell cycle compared with 3D UC-MSCs treatment group, which had much more hepatocytes staying in the G0 phase. Abbreviations: PCNA, proliferating cell nuclear antigen; IRI, ischemia-reperfusion injury; UC-MSCs, umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells.
