Fig. 3From: Implantation of a nerve protector embedded with human GMSC-derived Schwann-like cells accelerates regeneration of crush-injured rat sciatic nervesThe fate of GMSC-derived Schwann-like cells following transplantation within the functionalized nerve proctor to the crush injury site of rat sciatic nerves. The functionalized nerve protectors repopulated with GMSC-derived Schwann-like cells were implanted to wrap the injury segment of rat sciatic nerves. Four weeks post-implantation, the injured nerves were harvested and cryosections were prepared for immunofluorescence studies. The longitudinal cryosections were incubated with a specific mouse monoclonal antibody for human nuclei (red color) in combination with a rabbit polyclonal antibody for S-100β (a), GDNF (b), or BDNF (c) followed by incubation with Alexa Fluor 488- and 594-conjugated secondary antibodies. Nuclei were counterstained with 4’,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI; blue). d Quantification of the percentage of S-100β+, GDNF+, and BDNF+ cells (green color) co-immunostained with human nuclei (red color) by using ImageJ, which were designated as S-100β+hNu+, GDNF+hNu+, and BDNF+hNu+, respectively, whereby the percentage of total cells stained with green color was arbitrarily set as 100%. Images were captured under a fluorescence microscope. Scale bars, 50 µm. The dashed lines separated the longitudinally sectioned nerve tissues (the lower side) and implanted nerve protector (NP) scaffolds (the upper side)Back to article page