Fig. 5: Increased neovascularization and number of surviving transplanted MSCs by adropin-based dual treatment in rat myocardial infarction.

Immunohistochemical staining was performed to detect neovascularization and surviving implanted MSCs. A, C The positive staining for factor VIII-related antigen and surviving BrdU-positive implanted MSCs were brown by diaminobenzidine (DAB), and the nuclei were counterstained blue by hematoxylin (original amplification: ×200 in (A), ×400 in (C)). B Adropin-based dual treatment (the MI + MSC + Adropin group) had more neovascularization than MSCs transplantation alone (the MI + MSC group) at day 28 after cell therapy. D Adropin-based dual treatment conferred more surviving implanted MSCs than MSCs transplantation alone at the early (day 3) and late (day 28) stages after cell therapy. MSCs and MI, see Fig. 1. Data are expressed as mean ± SD, n = 8. *p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01 in (B). *p < 0.05 as compared with the MI + MSC group, and ^#p < 0.05 in (D).