Figure 7.

Histological inspections of the reconstructed urethra after reconstructive surgery. (A–C) Haematoxylin–eosin staining at 2, 4 and 12 weeks from the experimental group. As early as 2 weeks, the grafted urethra was found to be covered with urothelium (yellow arrows in A and B). Small vessels (black arrows in A and B) and muscle fibres were distributed dispersedly; good morphology of reconstructed tissues was observed at 12 weeks (C); (D–F) haematoxylin–eosin staining at 2, 4 and 12 weeks from the experimental group. No obvious urothelium was observed in the control graft (yellow arrows in D and E); vessel density was obviously lower than that in the experimental group (black arrows in E); grafted muscle was largely substituted by adipose tissues in the reconstructed urethra at 12 weeks (F); (G–L) Masson's trichrome staining at 2, 4 and 12 weeks. Abundant muscle tissues were observed in the experimental group (G–I, red staining), whereas muscle tissues were much less in the control group (J–L, red staining). Especially at 12 weeks, most tissues were substituted by collagen (green staining); bar = 100 μm.