Fig. 3

HUVECs promote OPCs proliferation, migration, and neuronal axonal growth in vitro. a–b The number of spheres in the CM-culture group (a) significant increase compared with the control group (b) during day 20 to day 30 of differentiation. Data are means ± SEM, ns, no significance; p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001, t test, N = 3 independent experiments. c Schematic diagram of migration experiment. d Immunofluorescence staining of the sorted OPCs (O4, red; GFP, green). Scale bars, 100 μm. e–f The number of migrated O4 sorted (e) and unsorted (f) cells was increased when co-cultured with HUEVCs for 4 h. Data are means ± SEM. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, t test, N = 3 independent experiments. g Axon extension of neurons in the OPCs mixtures cultured with/without HUVECs after three days (Tuj1, red; DAPI, blue). Scale bars, 750 μm. h Compared with the OPCs-mixture group, the axon length of neurons in the OPCs-mixture + HUVEC group was significantly increased. Data are means ± SEM. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001, t test, N = 3 independent experiments