Fig. 4.

Enhanced repair of the damaged myocardium by MSC-dressing therapy. Heart samples at 4 weeks after transplantation of 4 × 10⁶ rat amnion-derived MSCs (either by MSC-dressing technique or IM injection; DR-4m and IM-4m groups, respectively) in a rat ischemic heart failure model were collected and analyzed by histological assessments to elucidate myocardial repair post MSC-based therapy. The DR-0 group received epicardial transplantation of fibrin sealant film only, while the Sham group received no treatment. (a) Representative images of picrosirius red staining of the heart. (b–d) Collagen volume fraction (b), cardiomyocyte hypertrophy (c) and capillary density (d) in the peri-infarct viable myocardium measured using heart samples stained with/for picrosirius red, wheat germ agglutinin and isolectin B4, respectively. n = 5 in each group, *p < 0.05 vs. Sham and DR-0 groups, ^†p < 0.05 vs. IM-4m group. One-way ANOVA. Scale bars = 100 μm (b, d) and 25 μm (c). (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)