Fig. 7

SEI detected by ultrasonography and hematoxylin-and-eosin staining and gene expression analysis. a The SEI detected by ultrasonography increased significantly in the internal control scars (DMEM 1 and DMEM 2) in comparison with scars treated with ADSCs and ADSCs-CM on postoperative day 14, 21, 28, and 35. b Hematoxylin-and-eosin staining showed that the SEI decreased significantly in scars treated with ADSCs or ADSCs-CM in comparison with their internal controls on postoperative day 35 (44.04 % and 32.48 %, respectively, **P < 0.01 versus internal control). The SEI of ADSC injection scars was much lower than that of ADSCs-CM-treated scars (Δ P < 0.01). There was no significant difference between untreated and DMEM injection scars (P > 0.05). c, d The effect of ADSCs and ADSCs-CM on α-SMA and collagen type Ι mRNA expression was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction by using the housekeeping gene β-actin as an internal standard control. Both treatments inhibited α-SMA (c) and collagen type Ι (d) mRNA expression in groups 1 and 2 (both **P < 0.01 versus internal control). ADSC treatment resulted in an even lower gene expression of α-SMA and collagen type Ι in comparison with ADSCs-CM injection (*P < 0.05). There was no difference between DMEM injection and untreated scars in terms of α-SMA and collagen type Ι mRNA expression (P > 0.05). α-SMA alpha-smooth muscle actin, ADSC adipose-derived stem cell, ADSCs-CM conditioned medium of the adipose-derived stem cells, DMEM Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium, SEI scar elevation index