Fig 1.
Ipsilesional region of interest (ROI) was defined by subtracting the ischemic damaged regions at 5 weeks after ischemia from those at day 1.
Mirror ROI was defined as our contralesional ROI.
Fig 2.
Modified neurological severity score.
Functional behavioral improvements were serially assessed in rats treated with PBS-only (n = 6), FBS-hMSCs (n = 6), and SS-hMSCs (n = 6) using modified neurological severity scores (mNSS) (PBS-only vs. SS-hMSCs, **p<0.01; PBS-only vs. FBS-hMSCs, ##p<0.01; FBS-hMSCs vs. SS-hMSCs, §§p<0.01; one-way ANOVA, Tukey post-hoc test).
Fig 3.
Ischemic lesion and ventricular volume changes.
(a) Representative T2-weighted images of rats treated with PBS-only (n = 6, left), FBS-hMSCs (n = 6, middle), and SS-hMSCs (n = 5, right). (b) Bar graph representing serial changes in ischemic lesion volume (left) and ventricular volume (right) (PBS-only vs. SS-hMSCs, *p<0.05, **p<0.01; one-way ANOVA, Tukey post-hoc test).
Fig 4.
DTI and fiber tractography results.
(a) Representative microstructural indices maps of rats treated with PBS-only (n = 6, left), FBS-hMSCs (n = 6, middle), and SS-hMSCs (n = 5, right). (b) Quantitative analysis of relative fractional anisotropy (rFA), relative axial diffusivity (rAD), relative radial diffusivity (rRD), and relative fiber density (rFD) (PBS-only vs. SS-hMSCs, *p<0.05, **p<0.01; FBS-hMSCs vs. SS-hMSCs, §p<0.05, §§p<0.01; one-way ANOVA, Tukey post-hoc test).
Fig 5.
Diffusion tensor tractography images.
(a) Imaging plane and color information. Color indicates predominant orientation of reconstructed fiber tracts (red for left-right, green for superior-inferior, and blue for anterior-posterior). Representative fiber tractography from the contra-/ipsilesional ROIs at 5 weeks after treatment with (b) PBS-only, (c) FBS-hMSCs, and (d) SS-hMSCs.
Fig 6.
Correlation between T2-weighted images and DTI findings.
Relationship between (a) normalized ischemic lesion volume and fractional anisotropy (FA), (b) normalized ischemic lesion volume and fiber density (FD), (c) normalized ventricular volume and FA, (d) normalized ventricular volume and FD. The left panel shows results at 2 weeks after experimental stroke, and the right panel shows results at 5 weeks. Data are presented as Pearson correlation ratios (r) and p values.
Fig 7.
Representative FA maps and immunostaining with LFB.
White arrows indicate white matter rearrangement on FA maps, and black arrows indicate the distribution of myelinated fibers.