Figure 5
From: Vascular injury of immature epiphyses impair stem cell engraftment in cartilage defects
Histological analysis of vessels in the cartilage of immature (A) and mature (B) pigs at 24 weeks after MASI, and analysis of expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) on mRNA level using RT-PCR method (C). (A) Immature Cartilage (scale bars: 400 µm, 100 µm, and 50 µm): H&E staining revealed the presence of impaired vessels and mononuclear cell infiltration outside of the vessels (arrows, a). Alcian blue staining confirmed the presence of vessels in the immature cartilage (arrows, b). In the control samples, vessels with proper structures were observed (arrows, c). (B) Mature Cartilage (scale bars: 500 µm and 50 µm): H&E (d), and Alcian blue stainings (e) revealed no vessels in cartilage in mature cartilage after MASI (d) as well as in control pigs (f). (C) The lowest relative expression of VEGF was demonstrated in mature cartilage (Mature 24) when compared to immature (immature 12 and 24) after MASI respectively. Representative data from three independent experiments are shown ± SD (n = 3) (**p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001). SD standard deviation, ns not significant.
