FIG. 7.

Engrafted MSC tracking in vivo at 10 weeks post-transplantation. The MSCs on poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) scaffolds were labeled by fluorescent carbocyanine CMDil before implantation. The sections containing cells labeled with fluorescent carbocyanine CM-Dil were observed by fluorescence microscopy (red staining). DAPI counterstaining was performed to distinguish recipient cells (blue staining). Calvarial defects that were not engrafted with scaffolds or that were engrafted with scaffolds without cells were used as negative controls. As showed in (A, B), there were no explanted cells in the area engrafted with no graft or with the blank scaffold. In contrast, the CM-Dil-labeled explanted cells can be observed in the bone defects implanted with MSC-PLGA constructs (C–E). Scale bars represent 200 μm (A–E). Color images available online at www.liebertpub.com/tea