Fig. 2

Prevascularization increased expression of fibrinogen, and then promoted EGFP⁺ endogenous cell infiltration. (A) At 1 week post operation, immunofluorescence images of fibrinogen (red) and Hoechst 33342 (blue) from TEBG sections and prevascularized TEBG sections: far from blood vessel (a), β-TCP center (b), and close to blood vessel (c); scale bars = 100 μm. (B) Relative fluorescence integrated optical density (IOD) of fibrinogen, n = 5. (C, D) Immunofluorescence images of endogenous cells (EGFP⁺, green) and Hoechst 33342 (blue) in β-TCP center at 1 week (C) and 4 weeks (D) after operation. Red arrows, endogenous cells of EGFP⁺; white arrows, exogenous cells of EGFP⁻; scale bars = 100 μm. (E) Number of total cells per mm² and percentage of EGFP⁺ cells. n = 5. Data presented as mean ± s.e.m. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001 determined by Student’s t test. EGFP enhanced green fluorescent protein, TEBG tissue-engineered bone graft