Fig. 2

The beneficial effects of MSC-CM in spinal cord-injured rats in vivo. a The left side is rostral. Representative horizontal sections of the lesions showing anti-βIII-tubulin (to label nerve fibers) and anti-GFAP (to label astrocytes) immunostaining 2 months after transection and MSC-CM treatment. b Quantitative results of βIII-tubulin immunoreactivity (IR) are shown in the inset of a. c Quantitative results of GFAP IR-negative areas that define the length of the lesion as marked in the picture. Statistical significance was evaluated using one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. *p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01 compared with the saline group. d The time course of BBB scores shows hindlimb improvement after the intrathecal administration of CM. The results are reported as the mean ± SEM. Statistical significance was evaluated using two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni multiple comparisons test. *p < 0.05 and ***p < 0.001 compared with the saline group. e A histogram showing the number of rats in each treatment group that met the listed BBB score thresholds at the eighth week of the behavioral test