Fig. 3

ADMSC treatment reduced infarct size and increased fiber tract and myelin integrity after subcortical white matter damage. a Morphological study by CryoMyelin staining identified the zone of the lesion as an area of white matter injury located in the subcortical zone, showing restored myelinated axons in the ADMSC-treated animals. b Quantification of mean ROI intensity of the CryoMyelin staining. Stroked line indicates ROI; yellow line indicates a representative longitudinal profile of pixel intensity. c Comparative image analysis T2-weighted MRI and tractography at 1, 7 and 28 days showed a progressive reduction in white matter infarct size in controls and treated animals. Detail of tractography image in the lesion is given below showing augmented connectivity of fiber tracts in ADMSC-treated animals at 28 days. d Quantitative analysis of MRI images showed that ADMSC therapy reduced lesion size at 28 days compared to the controls (p < 0.05). Data are shown as mean ± SEM; *p < 0.05; n = 6 animals, 10 sections each per group. ADMSC adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells, d days, MRI magnetic resonance image, ROI region of interest