FIG. 5.
Allograft tolerance in recipients co-infused with MSCs and Tregs. (A) After T-cell depletion BMT, the groups treated with or without MSCs plus Tregs (BALB/c) were transplanted with skin grafts (SG) from C57BL/6 (H-2b) mice and C3H (H-2k). The untreated MSCs plus Tregs control group (●) rejected the donor graft. These grafts were significantly contracted for wound remodeling at 12 days after skin grafting. The mixed chimerism group co-infused with MSCs and Tregs accepted donor skin from C57BL/6 mice (○) but rejected third-party skin from C3H mice (▲).In addition, the full chimerism group that exhibited no GVHD at all survived, and their hair grew during the early phase (◊). The third-party skin grafts from C3H mice were rejected at average 10 days post-transplantation (▼). (B) Skin allografts were removed from recipients at 7 days post-transplantation for histological analysis through hematoxylin and eosin staining. Original magnification ×200. (C) Immunohistochemistry staining for neutrophils in the SG (original magnification ×200). Rejection of grafts was correlated with the degree of the inflammatory response, as evidenced by markedly increased neutrophil numbers. Data represent the pool of two independent experiments.