Figure 3. Dex suppresses satellite cell activation in vivo.
C57/BL6 control mice were treated with Dex and TA muscles were injured. A. At 1.5 day following injury, the cryo-cross-section of injured muscle were co-immunostained with anti-Pax7 (green) and Ki-67 (red); in the merged (right) column, dual positive (proliferating) cells are indicated by yellow color. *indicates injured myofibers. The proliferation rate was shown in the right column. B. The mRNAs of Myf5, MyoD and Myogenin in non-injured (designated as 0 injury days) or injured muscles (at different time points) were assessed by RT-PCR (*p<0.05; Dex vs. non-Dex-treated CTRL mice; n = 3 mice for each group). C. H/E staining of the cross-section of injured muscles (bar = 50 µm). D. At 7 days after injury, the newly formed myofiber sizes were measured and the myofiber size distribution was presented.