Fig. 5.
Pro-vasculogenic properties of MSCs. a MSCs isolated from four different GFP-C57BL/6 murine tissues (GFP-MSCs) were combined with ECFCs (2 × 106 total; 40:60 ECFC/GFP-MSC ratio) in 200 μL of Matrigel and the mixture was subcutaneously injected into nu/nu mice (n = 4 for each MSC group). Implants containing ECFCs alone served as controls. b Macroscopic views of representative Matrigel explants at day 7 (scale bar 5 mm). c H&E staining at day 7 revealed the presence of numerous blood vessels containing erythrocytes (yellow arrowheads). Top panels (scale bars 100 μm) and bottom panels (scale bars 20 μm) are images at low and high magnification, respectively. d Microvessel density was determined at day 7 by counting luminal structures containing erythrocytes. Bars represent the mean microvessel density determined from four replicate implants ± SEM