Figure 3

Histological analysis of limb muscles. Gastrocnemius muscles were collected after 4 weeks of cell therapy. Tissue samples were stained with (a) H & E to assess regenerative (*), necrotic (**) and normal areas and adipocyte infiltration (↓), (b) Picrosirius red to fibrotic area (stained in red), (c) lectin Griffonia and (d) alpha-actin antibody to capillary (arrowheads) density and mature vessels (arrow), respectively. High concentration of leucocytes can be found in necrotic area (**). Macrophages are marked ‘M’ and vessels are marked brown. IS, ischemic group. Bar = 50 μm (a, b) and 20 μm (c, d). n = 10 fields of lesions area per animal. Is, ischemic group; MSC-Ba, ischemic animals treated with MSCs obtained from BALB/c mice; MSC-Bl, ischemic animals treated with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) obtained from C57/BL6 mice; S, sham-operated group.