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Fig. 2 | Stem Cell Research & Therapy

Fig. 2

From: Exosomes derived from mature chondrocytes facilitate subcutaneous stable ectopic chondrogenesis of cartilage progenitor cells

Fig. 2

Histological analysis. H&E staining, safranin O/fast green (S-F) staining, and toluidine blue (T-B) staining in 4 weeks or 12 weeks showed enhanced ectopic cartilage formation in the BMSC-Exos and CC-Exos groups, compared to the PBS group. The enlarged images detailed the chondrocytes surrounded by a cartilaginous matrix, where more chondrocytes were found in the CC-Exos group, followed by BMSC-Exos and PBS groups. At week 4, the CPC constructs supplied with PBS did not lead to obvious cartilage matrix deposition. The addition of both BMSC-Exos and CC-Exos improved the matrix formation, compared with the PBS group. By 12 weeks, the BMSC-Exos and CC-Exos groups could maintain their cartilage-like appearance, and the histological results revealed significantly more contiguous cartilage matrix deposition than was observed at 4 weeks in each group. Black rectangles: typical chondrocytes, which are in high magnification. Scale bars = 200 μm

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