Figure 2.

A) DNA assay of scaffolds from 0 h to 7 d of in vitro incubation showed increased number of cells in first 24 h and loss of cells after 72 h. B) MTS assay of scaffolds from 0 h to 7 d in vitro incubation showed initial increase in metabolic activity followed by steady state. C) In vivo tracking using immunofluorescence (×630) demonstrated GFP⁺ cells within the graft at 6 h and 1 and 3 d but no cells at 7 d postimplantation. D) These findings were corroborated by qRT-PCR for the GFP gene from TEVGs (n=30) seeded with GFP⁺ cells, implanted in GFP-negative hosts, and harvested between 6 h and 14 d after implantation. Level of detection is 10 genomes/μl. E) Percentage of GFP-labeled cells per TEVG standardized for cell density decreased from 4.37% at 6 h to 0.02% at 14 d. Data are expressed as means ± sd.