Fig. 1

MSCs labelled/pretreated with SPIONs effectively improved sepsis-induced liver injury. A Mid-grade sepsis was induced by CLP in male C57BL/6 mice. Sham-operated mice underwent the same procedure without ligation and puncture of the caecum. PBS or a suspension of MSCs or SPIONs-MSCs (10⁶ cells in 150 μl of PBS) was injected via the tail vein 4 h after CLP operation. B The mouse liver was photographed to observe its appearance. C Survival curves of the mice after CLP and MSC or SPION-MSC therapy. D Biochemical indicators of liver function, including serum concentrations of ALT and AST. n = 5–7. E Serum concentrations of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-10 were measured by ELISAs. (F) H&E staining of liver tissues, lung tissues and kidney tissue after sacrifice. Data with error bars are presented as the mean ± SD. Each panel is a representative experiment of at least three independent biological replicates. Scale bars, 50 mm. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 as determined by unpaired Student’s t-test