Fig. 2

Cell engraftment and COL6 supplementation in TA muscles of Col6a1KO mice after cell transplantation. a Schematic representation of the cell transplantation into the TA muscle of Col6a1KO mice. b Sectional images of TA muscles in a Col6a1KO mouse and a WT mouse. Arrowheads indicate PDGFRα+ cells. c Sectional images of TA muscles 2 weeks after the cell transplantation. Boxed areas in the upper panels are shown with higher magnification in the lower panels. Scale bars, 25 μm (upper) and 12 μm (lower). d Sectional images of TA muscles at 2 weeks (upper) and 12 weeks (lower) after medium injection (WT and Col61KO) or cell transplantation. e Quantitative data of the COL6 positive area per whole TA CSA 2 weeks (tx2w) or 12 weeks (tx12w) after the transplantation. Data are shown as the mean ± SD. For tx2w, n = 17 (WT), n = 10 (medium; Col6a1KO), n = 9 (pMSCs), n = 12 (iMSCs), and n = 7 (KO-iMSCs); for tx12w, n = 17 (WT), n = 11 (medium; Col6a1KO), n = 6 (pMSCs, iMSCs, and KO-iMSCs each). *P < 0.05. **P < 0.01