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. 2023 Feb 11;12(4):582. doi: 10.3390/cells12040582

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Cardiac mitochondria transfer alters MSC properties. (A) Representative confocal microscopy images of WGA-stained MSCs in the absence (NT) or presence of MitoTracker Green-labeled cardiac mitochondria at the Mito 3 concentration after 24 h of incubation. Scale bar: 5 µm. (B) Internalization of MitoTracker Green-labeled cardiac mitochondria by MSCs following 24 h of exposure to different cardiac mitochondria concentrations (Mito1: 0.02 mg/1.5 × 105 cells; Mito2: 0.08 mg/1.5 × 105 cells; Mito3: 0.2 mg/1.5 × 105 cells). Left panel shows a representative flow cytometry histogram (blue: untreated MSCs; red: MSCs treated with the Mito 3 mitochondria concentration). Right panel shows flow cytometry quantification (n = 4). (C) Relative Ki67 mRNA levels in cardiac mitochondria-preconditioned MSCs in reference to non-treated MSCs (n = 7). (D) Relative VEGF and HGF mRNA levels in cardiac mitochondria-preconditioned MSCs in reference to non-treated MSCs (n = 5). (E) Relative protein secretion levels of endoglin, FGF-1, HGF, IL8, PLGF, VEGF-A (n = 8) or VEGF-C and VEGF-D (n = 4) in reference to non-treated MSCs. (F) Relative protein secretion levels of CXCL1, CXCL5, CXCL6, IL11, IL33 and LIF in conditioned media from cardiac mitochondria-preconditioned MSCs (Mito 3) relative to non-treated MSCs (n ≥ 4). (G) Relative mRNA levels of MMP1, MMP9 and MMP14 (n = 4); (H) MMP1 secretion levels (n = 5); and (I) collagenase activity (n = 7) in cardiac mitochondria-preconditioned MSCs in reference to non-treated MSCs. One-way ANOVA with Dunn’s multiple comparison test in (B–D, F–I). Unpaired t-test in (E). * p < 0.05, ** p 0.01, *** p < 0.001. Each dot represents an independent experiment. Bar graphs represent mean values ± SD.