Figure 4

The survival and trophic effect of SPC-01 cells 8 weeks after transplantation. The robust engraftment (MTCO2, green) of SPC-01 cells in a lesioned rat spinal cord was observed 8 weeks after transplantation (A). At the site of contact with the intact tissue, SPC-01 cells migrated out of the graft (A¹, higher magnification of A). The processes of only a few host cells entered the implant (A²). qPCR analysis revealed that the level of expression of the rat genes Ngf and Nt-3 was increased in the spinal cords of both control and grafted rats compared with healthy rats; the increase was significant only in the spinal cord tissue of animals grafted with SPC-01 cells (B) (*P < 0.05). (C) Changes in the expression of the human genes BDNF, VEGF, NT3, and NGF in SPC-01 cells 8 weeks after transplantation into a lesioned rat spinal cord, compared with the same cells before transplantation (**P < 0.005).