Fig. 1

Bu/Cy preconditioning changes bone marrow cellularity and upregulates Col4a1 and Col4a2 expression in bone marrow. a Schematic representation of the experimental timeline. BALB/c mice were divided into two groups: untreated control and Bu/Cy (n = 5/group). The Bu/Cy group received 20 mg/kg/day Bu for 4 days and 100 mg/kg/day Cy for 2 consecutive days. After 48 h, mice were sacrificed and used for further analysis. b Slides of mouse femur sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E). Cellularity was defined as the ratio of the hematoxylin-stained area within the medullary cavity of the diaphysis, corresponding to the area occupied by BMCs, to the selected total area. Scare bar 200 μm. c The RT2 profiler PCR array (for the analysis of mouse ECM and adhesion molecule mRNA expression) was used for real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) (n = 3/group). Data were analyzed using the Excel sheet provided by the manufacturer. Gusb and β-actin were selected as reference genes. d The mRNA expression levels of Col4a1 (left) and Col4a2 (right) were verified by RT-qPCR using custom oligos. The data represent the mean ± S.E.M. and were analyzed using the Student’s t test (*P < 0.05)