Fig 6. Foreign material-free EPCs enhance restoration of blood flow and limb salvage from ischemic injury.

(A) The foreign material-free EPCs were injected intramuscularly to injury site of nude mice with hindlimb ischemia (1×10⁶ cells/injection). Representative images of mice with laser Doppler perfusion imaging (LDPI) on day 0 and day 28 after injection with HBSS buffer (n = 6) or EPCs (n = 6) are shown. (B) Time-course quantitative analysis of blood flow by LDPI of hindlimb ischemia-induced mice injected with EPCs or HBSS is shown. (C) Statistical analysis of necrosis score on day 28 is shown. (D) Immunostaining of CD31-positive capillaries (green) in salvaged hindlimbs on day 28 after intramuscular injection of HBSS or EPCs is shown. (E) Quantitative analysis of capillary density in salvaged limbs on day 28 by counting the number of CD31-positive capillaries per high-power field (HPF) is shown. * indicates p < 0.05 vs HBSS by Student’s t-test (n = 6 for EPC and n = 6 for HBSS respectively).