Fig. 5

Effect of ASC-EVs treatment on skeletal muscles of SMA mice. The graphs show the quantitative analysis of the mean fiber area and Feret’s max diameter of gastrocnemius muscle (A) and quadriceps muscle (B) for SMA mice treated with PBS (SMA-PBS, white) or with ASC-EVs (SMA-EVs, grey) and for WT mice (black). ASC-EVs treatment can partially rescue the atrophy of skeletal muscle fibers in SMA mice. (One-way ANOVA *p < 0.05; **p < 0,005; ***p < 0,0005). (C) Hematoxylin/eosin (H/E) stained representative images showing SMA-PBS, SMA-EVs and WT quadriceps fibers. Scale bar 50 μm. (D) Representative confocal image showing NMJs (αBGTX, red; NF-H, green, DAPI blue) in quadriceps muscle of SMA-PBS. The arrows show three different NMJs phenotypes: mono-innervated (a single NF is contacting the endplate), multi-innervated (several NFs are contacting the endplate) and denervated (no co-localization between NF-H and αBGTX). Scale bar 25 μm. The graphs show the quantification of the percentage of mono-innervated, multi-innervated and denervated NMJs in gastrocnemius muscle (E) and quadriceps muscle (F) in SMA mice treated with PBS (SMA-PBS, white) or with ASC-EVs (SMA-EVs, grey) and in WT mice (black). Statistical difference between the groups are indicated (Two-way ANOVA *p < 0.05)