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Fig. 2 | Stem Cell Research & Therapy

Fig. 2

From: Three-dimensional cultured mesenchymal stem cells enhance repair of ischemic stroke through inhibition of microglia

Fig. 2

3D MSCs alleviated ischemia-induced injury. a The experimental timeline was illustrated. Rats were intravenously injected 3 and 7 days after middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) with PBS, 2D and 3D MSCs, respectively. The infarct volume was measured by MRI at 2 and 16 days after stroke. Rats were subjected to modified neurological severity score (mNSS) and adhesive-removal test at 1, 5, 9, and 13 days after stroke. b Representative T2-weighted MRI in rats treated as above. c 16 days post-stroke, quantitative graphs of MRI showed a significant lower infarct volume in the 3D MSCs transplanted group compared with 2D MSCs and PBS group. Data are shown as mean ± SEM; n = 6 for PBS group; n = 9 for 2D MSCs group and n = 8 for 3D MSCs group. *p < 0.05. d Neurological function of rats was determined by mNSS test and adhesive-removal test. 3D MSC treatment significantly enhanced neurological functional recovery at 5, 9, and 13 days after stroke compared with PBS treatment. Data are shown as mean ± SEM; n = 11 for 2D MSCs group; n = 12 for PBS and 3D MSCs group. *p < 0.05 compared with PBS group. e, f Immunofluorescence imaging of neuronal nuclei (NeuN)-positive cells in the ischemic penumbra at 5 days after MCAO. The quantitative analysis indicated that the total number of NeuN-positive cells in the ipsilateral penumbra was greater in the 3D MSCs administered group than that in the PBS and 2D MSCs group. Data are shown as mean ± SEM; n = 3 for each group. *p < 0.05

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