Fig. 1.

Results 3 days after AMI induction: H&E stained rat myocardium 3 days after LAD ligation. The cellular infiltrate appears to be more consolidated in apoptotic PBMC treated animals (a–d). The total area of necrosis was significantly reduced in both treatment groups compared to controls (e). Below, myocardial tissue stained for CD68 is shown (f–i). Quantification of positively stained cells per high power-field (HPF) indicated higher numbers of macrophages in both treatment groups (h–j). When tissue specimens were stained for c-kit (k–n), more of these cell populations could be detected in the epicardial zone in rats injected with apoptotic cells (m–o). Concomitantly, more cells staining positive for FLK-1/VEGF receptor 2 were found in the same areas (p–t)