Fig. 2.

Administration of human DEC therapy (1 × 10⁶ and 5 × 10⁶) results in reduced inflammation in the heart, diaphragm and gastrocnemius muscle at 180 days following DEC administration. Representative images of Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) stained cross-sections of heart (A), diaphragm (D), and gastrocnemius muscle (G) confirmed reduced muscle inflammation in both DEC groups compared to vehicle-injected controls. Magnification 40x (heart panel) 20x (diaphragm and gastrocnemius muscle), scale bar 50 μm, n = 3/group, 12 ROI/organ/mouse. (B) In heart H&E sections the number of small and large foci was significantly reduced in both DEC groups and was dose-dependent. No large foci were seen in the 5 × 10⁶ group. (C) Dose-dependent reduction of total number of inflammatory foci was observed in cardiac muscle in both DEC groups but not in vehicle-injected group and was dose-dependent. (E) In diaphragm, significant dose-dependent reduction of small and large inflammatory foci was observed in DEC-injected compared to vehicle-injected mice. (F) Total number of inflammatory foci in diaphragm was significantly reduced in both DEC groups when compared to vehicle-injected controls and was dose-dependent. (H) In gastrocnemius muscle significant reduction of the total number of inflammatory foci was observed in both DEC-injected mice when compared to vehicle-injected controls. (I) Total number of inflammatory foci in GM was reduced in DEC-injected compared to vehicle-injected groups. Data presented as mean ± SEM. One-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey’s test *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001, **** p < 0.0001