Journal: Cells
Article Title: Enhanced Host Neovascularization of Prevascularized Engineered Muscle Following Transplantation into Immunocompetent versus Immunocompromised Mice
doi: 10.3390/cells8121472
Figure Lengend Snippet: Prevascularization promotes host neovascularization. Empty, SC-only, and EC-SC-containing scaffolds were grown for 14 days in vitro and transplanted into immunocompetent and immunocompromised mice. ( A ) Representative confocal image of host vasculature in the area of the transplanted graft. Scale bar = 15 µm. ( B ) Respective binary image for MATLAB analysis. ( C ) Representative image segmentation. ( D ) Non-vessel segments filtration. ( E ) Skeletonization of filtered image. ( F ) Total vessel length of 10–15 µm-wide functional host vessels penetrating the graft area, on days 14 and 18 post-transplantation. Data are expressed as means ± SEM and were analyzed using the multiple student’s t -test, n ≥ 4 (* p < 0.05). ( G ) Total vessel length of 10–15 µm-wide host vessels penetrating the graft area on days 7, 10, 14, and 18 after transplantation into immunocompetent mice. Data are expressed as means ± SEM and were analyzed using the multiple student’s t -test, n ≥ 4 (* p < 0.05 versus empty graft; # p < 0.05 versus SC-only graft, $ p < 0.05 SC-only graft versus empty graft). ( H ) Total vessel length of 10–15 µm-wide host vessels penetrating the graft area on days 7, 10, 14, and 18 after transplantation into immunocompromised mice. Data are expressed as means ± SEM and were analyzed using the multiple student’s t -test, n ≥ 4 (* p < 0.05 versus empty graft; # p < 0.05 versus SC-only graft).
Article Snippet: Total length (mm) of 10–15 mm-diameter vessels within the constructs 18 days post-transplantation, was calculated by analyzing z-stack confocal projection images, using a self-written MATLAB algorithm.
Techniques: In Vitro, Filtration, Functional Assay, Transplantation Assay