Fig. 2.

BMSC and BMSC-EV treatments reduce bleomycin-induced dermal thickening and fibrosis. a Schematic showing the mouse SSc model generation and treatment process. b Schematic showing the injection technique and strategy for distributing bleomycin, BMSCs, and BMSC-EVs as evenly as possible. c H&E staining of representative skin sections from mouse skin tissue. Arrows show the dermal thickness. Scale bar 200 μm. d, e The thicknesses of the dermis skin and subcutaneous fat layer were measured with ImageJ software in H&E-stained images. f Inflammatory cells were counted and identified by H&E staining. SSc: Systemic sclerosis