Fig. 5

Regeneration of sciatic nerve after mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)/poly-caprolactone (PCL) implants. a’–c’ Schematic diagrams to illustrate the three in vivo experimental groups. a’ Tube with PBS; b’ tube with PCL filaments; c’ tube with PCL filaments plus MSC. a–c Low-magnification images of the sciatic nerves inside the tubes 12 weeks after surgery in the three conditions. Dashed squares indicate the areas imaged in d–l. d–l Longitudinal sections of the sciatic nerve tissue immunolabeled for NF-200 (g–i, green) and myelin basic protein (MBP) (j–l, red) with cell nuclei stained with To-Pro (d–f, blue). m–o Histograms of the quantitative analysis of the nerve thickness (m), cell density (n) and axonal density (o). p–s Photomicrographs by optical microscopy in high magnification of the semi-thin section of the regenerated nerves, 12 weeks after lesion and implantation stained with toluidine blue. Calibration bars: a–c = 5 mm; d–l = 100 μm; p–s = 20 μm. **p < 0.001, ***p < 0.0001, ANOVA; n = 6 animals for each experimental condition