Fig. 3

Numbers and functional activities of SSC niche supportive cells. a Numbers of interstitial (Leydig) cells per field of view; data are presented as means ± SD of three sections per testicle. Three animals were analyzed for each mean in untreated and MSC groups, and four animals in vehicle and MSC secretome groups. b Relative serum testosterone levels normalized to baseline; values are presented as medians with 25th and 75th percentiles. One animal from MSC group with 1 month follow-up, three animals from untreated and 3 months follow-up MSC groups, and four animals from vehicle and MSC secretome groups were sampled for each mean. Dark gray bars, 1 month follow-up; bright gray, 3 months. c, d Microphotographs of interstitia in tissue sections from untreated animals at 3 months after descent of testes (c) and from MSC secretome-treated animals at 3 months after descent of testes (d). Blue pseudocolour, DAPI; green, LHR. Scalebars = 50 μm. e Numbers of Sertoli cells per seminiferous tubule. Data are presented as means ± SD; three sections were analyzed per testicle. Dark gray bars, 1 month follow-up; bright gray, 3 months. f, g Microphotographs of seminiferous tubules; MSC secretome-treated animal at 1 month after descent of testes (f); MSC secretome-treated animal at 3 months after descent of testes (g). Blue pseudocolour, DAPI; magenta, PCNA; scalebars = 50 μm. Asterisks indicate Sertoli cells