Table 3.

Muscle IVIM parameters in EA, EA + BMSCs, BMSCs and PBS (mean ± SD).

IVIM-MRI	Time points (weeks)	EA	EA + BMSCs	BMSCs	PBS	p < 0.05
f	0	0.0196 ± 0.0022	0.0187 ± 0.0048	0.0195 ± 0.0024	0.0198 ± 0.0030	–
	1	0.0334 ± 0.0050	0.0304 ± 0.0067	0.0264 ± 0.0047	0.0101 ± 0.0049	cef
	2	0.0296 ± 0.0108	0.0281 ± 0.0072	0.0303 ± 0.0093	0.0148 ± 0.0019	cef
	3	0.0200 ± 0.0042	0.0236 ± 0.0065	0.0243 ± 0.0039	0.0238 ± 0.0041	–
	4	0.0190 ± 0.0031	0.0186 ± 0.0049	0.0191 ± 0.0032	0.0195 ± 0.0040	–
D	0	0.0014 ± 0.0001	0.0013 ± 0.0000	0.0014 ± 0.0001	0.0013 ± 0.0002	–
	1	0.0013 ± 0.0001	0.0013 ± 0.0000	0.0013 ± 0.0001	0.0014 ± 0.0001	–
	2	0.0013 ± 0.0001	0.0013 ± 0.0001	0.0013 ± 0.0001	0.0013 ± 0.0001	–
	3	0.0013 ± 0.0001	0.0013 ± 0.0001	0.0013 ± 0.0001	0.0013 ± 0.0000	–
	4	0.0014 ± 0.0002	0.0013 ± 0.0000	0.0014 ± 0.0001	0.0013 ± 0.0001	–
D*	0	0.0207 ± 0.0116	0.0500 ± 0.0609	0.1148 ± 0.0624	0.0479 ± 0.0622	–
	1	0.0448 ± 0.0489	0.0830 ± 0.0701	0.0558 ± 0.0595	0.0669 ± 0.0682	–
	2	0.0578 ± 0.0592	0.0438 ± 0.0443	0.0794 ± 0.0609	0.0824 ± 0.0707	–
	3	0.0617 ± 0.0567	0.1085 ± 0.0569	0.1340 ± 0.0411	0.0524 ± 0.0597	–
	4	0.0373 ± 0.0473	0.0997 ± 0.0674	0.0513 ± 0.0601	0.0360 ± 0.0462	–

EA, electroacupuncture; BMSCs, bone mesenchymal stem cells; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline; SD, standard deviation; p ≤ 0.05, post-hoc analysis with Bonferroni correction; f, perfusion fraction; D, diffusion coefficient; D*, pseudo-diffusion coefficient. p < 0.05 and statistically significant difference between groups: c, EA vs. PBS; e, EA + BMSCs vs. PBS; f, BMSCs vs. PBS.