Fig. 5. Immunohistochemical assessments. (A) Immunofluorescence staining at 8 weeks after transplantation. Injured spinal cord lesions were immunostained for heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), β3-tubulin, neurofilament M (NF-M), neuronal nuclear antigen (NeuN), galactosylceramidase (GALC), and phosphorylated-signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (p-STAT3; red); transplanted cells (green fluorescent protein [GFP]); each nucleus was stained with DAPI (blue). (B), (C), and (D) showed quantification of immunostaining results. (B) Expression of red positive markers of antibodies. Expressions of the HO-1, β3-tubulin, NF-M, and NeuN were higher in the MSC-HO-1 group than MSC-GFP group, and expression of GFAP was adversely affected. The number of transplanted cells expressing GFP was not different between the two groups (^*p < 0.05). (C) GFP expression shows no difference between the groups. (D) Comparison of the origins of HO-1 and neural cells in the injured site, whether from implanted MSCs or endogenous host cells. The expression of most neural cell markers from endogenous origins (not GFP labeled) were significantly higher than those of transplanted cells origins (GFP labeled) in both groups (^*p < 0.05). However, expression rate of HO-1 marker from transplanted cells origins was significantly higher than that from endogenous origin cells in the MSC-HO-1 group (^*p < 0.05). Scale bars = 50 µm.