Fig. 1

Schematic of experimental design. To induce traumatic brain injury, a 50-g circular hammer was allowed to fall through the guide stick from a height of 30 cm. Thirty minutes after injury, animals were administered the calpain inhibitor, MDL28170, intracranially at the site of the lesion. At 24 h after injection, animals were transplanted with GFP-BMSCs at the lesion cavity. Rats then underwent histological and neurological functional assessments at the different time points, 7, 14, and 28 days. TBI, traumatic brain injury; BMSCs, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells