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Fig. 5 | BMC Veterinary Research

Fig. 5

From: Assessment of effectiveness and safety of repeat administration of proinflammatory primed allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells in an equine model of chemically induced osteoarthritis

Fig. 5

Histopathology and histochemical assessment of cartilage and synovium was performed assigning scores to several parameters. a Representative histologic images from one animal of each group (control, MSC-naïve, MSC-primed) at both end-points (two and six months); (A.1) Cartilage (hematoxylin-eosin [H&E], × 20): different degrees of fissuring/fibrillation of the cartilage surface, chondrocyte necrosis and areas of focal cell loss can be observed, with more severe abnormalities for control animal at six months. Overall scores assigned to each image are as follows: score 6 (control, 2 months), score 8 (control, 6 months; MSC-naïve, 2 and 6 months; MSC-primed, 2 months), score 7 (MSC-primed, 6 months); (A.2) Cartilage histochemistry (safranin O-fast green [SOFG], × 20): different degrees of SOFG stain uptake related to proteoglycan content. Scores assigned to each image are as follows: score 4 (control, 6 months), score 3 (control, 2 months; MSC-naïve, 2 and 6 months; MSC-primed, 6 months), score 2 (MSC-primed, 2 months); (A.3) Synovium (H&E, × 100): different degrees of mononuclear cells infiltration and changes in vascularity can be observed, more markedly in the control group at both end-points. Overall scores assigned to each representative image are as follows: score 16 (control, 2 months), score 14 (control, 6 months; MSC-naïve, 2 months), score 4 (MSC-naïve, 6 months), score 12 (MSC-primed, 2 months), score 10 (MSC-primed, 6 months). b Mean ± SEM of the scores assigned to each group at two months (phase 2, light grey bars; control, n = 4 radio-carpal [RC]-joints; MSC-naïve, n = 7 RC-joints; MSC-primed, n = 7 RC-joints) and at six months (phase 1, dark grey bars; control, n = 4 RC-joints; MSC-naïve, n = 7 RC-joints; MSC-primed, n = 7 RC-joints); (B.1) in cartilage histopathology (H&E, total histopathologic score [sum of scores from each parameter], highest possible score is 12); (B.2) in cartilage histochemistry (SOFG, highest possible score is 4) and (B.3) in synovium histopathology (H&E, total histopathologic score [sum of scores from each parameter], highest possible score is 20) (* = p < 0.05; ** = p < 0.01)

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