Figure 7.

Long-term therapeutic effects of M-MSCs in LPS-IC rats. (A) Quantitative bladder voiding data in LPS-IC rats at 2 and 4 weeks after injection of 1×10⁶ M-MSCs. Data are presented as the mean ± SEM (six independent animals per group). **p<0.01 and ***p<0.001 compared with the LPS-IC group; ###p<0.001 for 2 weeks vs. 4 weeks according to a two-way ANOVA with the Bonferroni post-hoc test. NAC; non-voiding contraction. (B) Hematoxylin and eosin staining of the indicated bladder tissues (magnification ×200, scale bar = 200 μm). Nuclei were stained with Mayer's hematoxylin. (C) Quantification of mast cell infiltration and apoptosis in bladder tissues of LPS-IC rats at 2 and 4 weeks after injection of 1×10⁶ M-MSCs. Three representative areas per slide were randomly selected from five independent animals. Data (n = 15) were normalized against levels in sham-operated rats and are presented as the mean ± SEM. ***p<0.001 compared with the LPS-IC group; ###p<0.001 compared with the LPS-IC + M-MSC group according to a one-way ANOVA with the Bonferroni post-hoc test.