Fig. 3.

Therapeutic property of muscle progenitor cells for urethral sphincter regeneration. In urodynamic study (A), leak point pressure (LPP) and closing pressure (CP) improved significantly in animals with pudendal neurectomy in the muscle progenitor group at week 2 and 4, compared with those in the hAFSC group (^*P = 0.003, ^†P = 0.003, ^‡P = 0.008, ^§P = 0.008). The representative H&E and IHC images (B) and real-time PCR (C) results of the muscle progenitor group exhibited the accelerated sphincter regeneration with myogenic lineage markers expression. The results of injected human cell detection, immune responses and a safety study in vivo (D) showed that hAFSCs-derived muscle progenitor cells showed their integration into the host tissue at week 2, scant CD8 lymphocyte aggregation in the urethral sphincter at week 2 and no teratoma formation under renal capsule at week 4. Ctrl (-), bilateral pudendal nerve transected group; hAFSC, bilateral pudendal nerve transected and hAFSC injected group; Muscle, bilateral pudendal nerve transected and hAFSCs-derived muscle progenitor cell injected group; Ctrl (+), sham operated group.