Fig. 4

Effects of the secretions of each group of cells on dorsal root ganglia (DRG). a The axons of DRG exhibited green fluorescence and Schwann cells (SCs) that migrated from the DRG exhibited red fluorescence in the lower chamber of the Transwell® system. Simultaneously, all nuclei showed blue fluorescence. Moreover, the distributions of cells in undifferentiated adipose-derived stem cells (uASCs) and all sustaining differentiated (d)ASCs groups were serried, whereas those in intermittent dASCs and SCs were homogeneous. Photographs in the bottom row are higher magnification views of those in the box in the third row. b The mean axon length of DRG in sustaining dASCs 7d (868.53 ± 34.22 μm), intermittent dASCs (1032.77 ± 109.91 μm), and SCs (991.41 ± 68.23 μm) were significantly higher (p < 0.01) than those in the other three groups, but there were no significant differences within the three groups. c Although the ratio of SCs in sustaining dASCs 7d (72.62 ± 4.92%) was significantly higher (p < 0.01) than those in uASCs (58.01 ± 2.74%), and sustaining dASCs 4d (53.02 ± 4.03%) and 10d (53.22 ± 4.38%), the ratios in the above four groups were significantly lower (p < 0.01) than in those in intermittent dASCs (92.14 ± 3.44%) and SCs (93.95 ± 2.28%). d A similar tendency was observed for the mean axon length of DRG, as the SCs showed significantly greater (p < 0.01) migration distance from the DRG in sustaining dASCs 7d (895.38 ± 34.80 μm), intermittent dASCs (1033.19 ± 83.56 μm), and SCs (904.90 ± 36.83 μm) compared with the other three groups, although there were no significant differences between these three groups. Data are expressed as means ± SEM. **p < 0.01, one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post-test or Dunnett’s T3 post-test. n.s., no significant difference,