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. 2014 Dec 1;9(12):e111966. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111966

Figure 4. Histological analysis of transplanted engineered bladders.

Figure 4

A) Engineered bladders from BAM alone and MSCs-seeded BAMs were retrieved at 1 (not shown) and 6 months (shown) and compared to normal bladders. H&E staining reveals that all bladders possess a tri-layered organization including urothelium, lamina propria and smooth muscle. Masson's trichrome staining shows that unseeded BAMs had more fibrosis (**) and myofibroblastic proliferation (*) compared to normal controls and MSCs-seeded BAMs. IHC for pancytokeratins AE1/3 reveals multilayered urothelium in both unseeded and MSCs-seeded BAMs. IHC for α-SMA shows that smooth muscle fibers in MSCs-seeded BAMs were thicker, more organized and more fascicular than in unseeded BAMs. Scale bars  = 150 µm. B) Histomorphometry of SMA+ area over total tissue volume confirms higher smooth muscle regeneration in MSC-seeded BAM group over BAM alone group at six months post-transplant. C) Urothelium layer thickness was comparable in all groups at six months post-transplant.