Fig. 6

EiECs promote revascularization in ischemic limbs of athymic nude mice. hUVECs, mature EiECs, or hADSCs were implanted subcutaneously into nude mice. a Cell masses were removed and imaged 14 days after implantation. b hUVECs, mature EiECs, or hADSCs were injected into adductors of an ischemic model of nude mice; PBS containing 30% Matrigel was used as control. Stacked bar graph shows the percentage distribution of the physiological status of the ischemic limbs 4 weeks after cell transplantation. c Representative Doppler images of superficial blood flow in lower limbs. The yellow box indicated the left ischemic hind limbs. d Quantitative analysis of perfusion recovery in ischemic hind limbs. e Sections of Matrigel plugs were stained with mouse/human CD31 antibody (red) to identify the functional vessels. Human-specific CD31 was stained in green; white arrows indicate the colocalization of human CD31 and mouse CD31-marked vessels. f, g Vessel density and percentage of human-specific CD31+ vessels were also quantified. h–j Panels showed individual and merged images of immunofluorescence analysis performed on Matrigel plugs. h Colocalization of human CD31 (red) and human-VEcad (green) or (I) human-CD31 (red) and human-vWF (green) were observed. j The bottom row shows fields containing human-CD31-positive cells (red) as part of the endothelial layer surrounding staining for mouse specific a-SMA (green). Scale bar = 50 μm. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01