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. 2019 Jul 9;9(17):5105–5121. doi: 10.7150/thno.33904

Figure 5.

Figure 5

Role of CD146+ ADSCs in cartilage microenvironment after joint cavity injection. (A) Experimental design for cell transplantation and macroscopic analyses of femoral condyle cartilage. Rats were randomly allocated to four groups: defects treated with PBS (negative control), defects treated with ADSCs, defects treated with CD146+ cells, and the sham-operated group. At 2 weeks, rats were euthanized, and the distal femora were harvested. (B) Immunohistochemical staining of HLA-ABC. Scale bar: 100 μm. (C) Histological analysis of the defected area by H&E, Safranin O, and Sirius red staining. Black solid arrows denote the repair interface. Red solid arrows denote the depth of the repaired cartilage. HC, host cartilage; D, defect area; RC, repaired cartilage. Scale bar: 100 μm. (D) Analysis of inflammation related cytokine expressions. Results represent the mean ± standard error of the mean; the sample number was three. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. (E) Immunohistochemical staining of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-α. Black solid arrows denote the positive expression of IL-6 in the repair interface Scale bar: 100 μm.