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. 2021 Feb 26;12:1293. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-21545-1

Fig. 5. Facilitation of TSPC tenogenesis by biomimetic parallel-aligned collagen fibrils.

Fig. 5

a Schematic of fabrication of parallel-aligned collagen fibers (ACF). b (i) SEM of 6–8-week native tendons and ACF. (ii) Corresponding TEM of (i) with longitudinal and cross sections. c (i) Immunofluorescence staining of F-actin and Tubulin of the single TSPC on randomly-aligned collagen fibers (RCF) and ACF after 6 h of culture. (ii) Semi-quantification of (i) (n = 4 biologically independent samples). d (i) SEM and (ii) HE staining of TSPCs on RCF and ACF at 14 days. e Immunofluorescence staining of Mkx and Tnmd of TSPCs on RCF and ACF on day 14. f Overview of the transplantation protocol of ACF into athymic mice. g Representative gross morphology of subcutaneous tissue formed by implantation of ACF with PBS- and rPOSTN-treated TSPCs in the 10th generation after 8 weeks. h Macroscopic view (i) and weight (ii) of newly formed tendon-like tissues (n = 5 biologically independent samples). i HE and Masson’s trichrome staining of sections of neotissues. j (i) SEM and TEM of collagen pattern of neotissues. (ii) Distribution of collagen fibril diameters of (i) (n = 5 biologically independent samples). k (i) Immunofluorescence staining of Ki67, Tnc, and Col1 of neotissues. (ii) Semi-quantification of (i) (n = 5 biologically independent samples). Data are represented as mean ± SD. Exact P values were calculated by two-tailed Student’s t test and given in the Source Data file. ***P < 0.001, **P < 0.01.