Fig. 4

Effects of different treatments on blood vessels and myofibroblasts, and their microscopic characterization. (A) Immunohistochemical images of blood vessels in oral mucosa tissue at 4 and 8 weeks. Red boxes represent the locally enlarged position. Red arrows indicate blood vessels in the lamina propria of the mucosa. Scale bars = 50 μm, 20 μm. (B) Representative immunohistochemical images of myofibroblasts in oral mucosa tissue at 4 and 8 weeks. Red boxes represent the locally enlarged position. The red arrows indicate the positive cells. Scale bars = 50 μm, 20 μm. (C) Scanning electron microscopy image of the oral mucosa lamina propria of rats under different treatments (4 weeks post-injection). Scale bars = 5 μm. (D) Atomic force scanning topography image (above) and corresponding three-dimensional reconstruction image (below) of the oral mucosa lamina propria of rats after different treatments (4 weeks post-injection). Scale bar = 3 μm. (E) Quantification of the number of microvessels, n = 6. (F) Quantification of the α-SMA positive areas, n = 6. (G) Quantitative analysis of collagen porosity areas in the SEM images, n = 6. (H) Young’s modulus from the AFM images of the oral mucosa lamina propria, n = 6. The results are presented as the mean ± S.D. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; ****P < 0.0001