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. 2019 Apr 29;129(6):2237–2250. doi: 10.1172/JCI123135

Figure 1. Effects of exosome treatment on cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells, and cardiac fibroblasts in vitro.

Figure 1

(A) Representative fluorescent micrographs showing uptake of DiI-labeled NEXO and FEXO by NRCMs. Endocytosed exosomes (red) can be seen within the cytoplasm of cardiomyocytes (green). Scale bar: 10 μm. (B) Quantitation of exosomes uptake (n = 10). Two-tailed t test. (C) NRCM proliferation in response to NEXO, FEXO, or PBS treatment. White arrows indicate Ki-67+/α-SA+ cells. Scale bar: 20 μm. (D) Quantitation of proliferating cardiomyocytes (n = 6). (E) Apoptotic NRCMs in response to NEXO, FEXO, or PBS treatment. White arrows indicate TUNEL+/α-SA+ cells. Scale bar: 20 μm. (F) Quantitation of apoptotic cardiomyocytes (n = 6). (G) Measurement of tube formation in HUVECs co-cultured with NEXO, FEXO, or PBS. Scale bar: 100 μm. (H) Quantitation of average HUVEC tube length (n = 20). (I) Neonatal rat fibroblasts underwent phenotypic transition to myofibroblasts in response to NEXO, FEXO, or PBS treatment. Scale bar: 20 μm. (J) Quantitation of myofibroblasts (n = 12). *P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001. NS, no significance. (D, F, H, and J) One-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc correction. All values are mean ± SD. FEXO, exosomes derived from the cardiac cells of patients with heart failure. NEXO, exosomes derived from the cardiac cells of normal heart donors.