Figure 5. Significantly higher numbers of endogenous proliferating Ki67+Sca-1+ cells were located adjacent to the PGI2-hMSC site 3 days after cell injections.
(a) Representative confocal images illustrate the distribution of endogenous Ki67+Sca-1+ (yellow arrows) and Ki67+Sca-1−cells (purple arrows) in ischaemic gastrocnemius muscle areas surrounding injected hMSCs. (b) Quantitative analysis indicated a significantly higher percentage of Ki67+Sca-1+cells surrounding PGI2-hMSCs injection sites as compared with 3.1-MSCs+ILO or to 3.1-hMSCs sites (**P<0.01; one-way ANOVA with Newman–Keuls post hoc test). (c) Significantly higher percentage of Ki67+Sca-1−cells surrounded 3.1-MSCs+ILO injection sites than 3.1-hMSC injection sites (*P<0.05; one-way ANOVA with Newman–Keuls post hoc test). No significant differences were seen between 3.1-MSCs+ILO and PGI2-hMSC treatment or between PGI2-hMSC and 3.1-hMSC treatment. Data are shown as mean±s.e.m. A total of 30 high-power fields (HPFs) from three mice (male and female) per treatment group (10 HPFs per mouse, see details in Method) was used. Mice were sex matched among the three treatment groups. Scale bar, 25 μm.