Fig. 7.

SSPC-aptamer conjugated miR-378a-overloaded-EVs alleviated bone loss in obese mice.

(A) Schematic of SSPC-aptamer conjugated BMM-EVs generation. (B) Representative fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT) images of near-infrared fluorescence signals in lower limbs isolated from mice administered with DIR dye alone, DIR-stained BMM-EV, and DIR-stained aptamer-conjugated BMM-EVs (BMM-EV-apt). (C) Schematic of SSPC-aptamer conjugated miR-378a-BMM-EV generation. (D-I) Representative μCT images (D) and quantitative μCT analysis of trabecular (E-H) and cortical bone (I) from obese mice with NC-EV-Apt and/or miR-378a-EV-Apt intervention. (J) Representative images of osteocalcin staining (J, top). Red arrows mark osteoblasts. Scale bar: 50 μm; representative images of H&E staining (J, bottom). Scale bar: 100 μm (K–M) Quantification of number of osteoblasts (K) and number and area of adipocytes (L–M). Data is shown as mean ± SD. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ns, no significant. (Non-parametric test is used in Fig. 7 I, and student t-test is used in others).