Fig. 4

Engraftment of ADRC grafts on the cardiac surface and local APN production. a Macroscopically, the grafts covered the anterior walls of the heart. b Hematoxylin and eosin staining of the grafts showed connective tissue between the graft and the heart. Asterisk indicates implanted ADRCs. c ADRCs derived from GFP rats were implanted in the same manner. IHC showed that the connective tissue contained a vascular network in its stalk. c-2 Magnified photograph of the rectangular area in c-1. Arrow head shows GFP-positive cells in the graft that survived, indicating that the implanted ADRCs survived 14 days after transplantation. Scale bar = 50 μm. c-1 Magnified photograph of the rectangular area in c-2. Arrows show connective tissue between the graft and the heart. Scale bar = 100 μm. Green, GFP-positive cells; red, SMA; and blue, nuclei. d Representative pictures of APN positive cells in myocardium 3 weeks after implantation. Some cells in infarct areas and infarct border zones showed strong labelling for APN. The APN distribution was not only observed in the intravascular lumen, but also in suspected residual cardiomyocytes. Red, APN; Green, SMA; blue, nuclei. Scale bar = 50 μm