Figure 1. Differences in number and function of bone marrow stem cells between diabetic and healthy mice.

Compared with healthy control mice, diabetic mice had significantly lower body weights (A) and higher blood glucose levels (B). Significantly fewer total bone marrow mononuclear cells were harvested from diabetic mice than from healthy control mice (C), and the subpopulation of c-kit+ stem cells was significantly decreased in diabetic mice (D). After 7 days of culture, the c-kit+ stem cells from diabetic mice showed significantly less differentiation into VE-cadherin-positive endothelial cells than did cells from healthy control mice (E), but the production of VEGF did not differ between the two groups (F).