Fig. 4

Cardiac repair of Wilms’ tumor factor 1 (WT1)-positive (WT1^pos) cells after in-vivo transplantation. The WT1-positive cells (WT1-pos) were directly injected into the infarcted myocardium and the cardiac function and histology were assessed after 28-day follow-up. The WT1^pos cell-treated heart showed improved cardiac ejection fraction (EF) and fractional shortening (FS) in comparison with WT1-negative controls (WT1-neg) assessed by echocardiography (a–c). Remarkably, although the infarcted size was not altered (e), significantly more cardiomyocytes (CMs; cardiac troponin T (cTnT)-positive; g and i) and vessels (vWF-positive; g and h) were formed, and thus the anterior wall was thickened (f) at the site of injection (arrows in d), indicating the augmented myogenic and angiogenic effects induced by cell transplantation. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01