Fig. 2

Histopathology of the pancreas. a–g H&E staining of rat pancreas (×100). There were no significant pathological changes in pancreatic tissues in the control group (a). The pancreas exhibited mild interstitial edema and a few inflammatory cells infiltrated in the acute necrotizing pancreatitis (ANP) group at 6 h (b). Compared to the ANP group at 12 h (d), the edema formation, hemorrhage, inflammatory cell infiltration, and necrosis was more severe in the ANP group at 24 h (f). Pancreatic damage was reduced significantly in the mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)-treated group at the 6-h, 12-h, and 24-h time points (c, e, and g). h The pancreatic histopathologic score of each group is shown as the mean ± SE (n = 10). *p < 0.01, versus the control group at the same time point; ⁺ p < 0.05, ^# p < 0.01, versus the ANP group at the same time point; as tested using a two-sample t test for comparing between two groups, and one-way ANOVA for comparing several groups