Fig. 4

Effect of OECs on angiogenesis after SCI in vivo. a Injection of OECs from GFP transgenic rats into the spinal cord of rats, and immunofluorescent identification for p75 after one week. They display that all OECs were successfully transplanted to the injured areas and the activated OECs have a longer migration area. Scale bar: 100 μm. b BBB scores within the different observation periods in distinct treated rats after SCI. (n = 5 per group) c Representative images of immunochemical stained sections showing lumens surrounded by positive CD31 cells in the various groups (in vivo). Red arrows mark the typical CD31 positive cells. n = 3 per group, scale bars: 100 μm. d Positive staining rate of CD31⁺ cells. AOT: activated OECs transplantation group; UOT: unactivated OECs transplantation group. e Angiographic 3D reconstruction from Micro-CT photographs of spinal cords of rats one week after SCI, n = 3 per group. Scale bar: 200 μm. f–h The percentage of vessel volume (f), mean blood vessel diameter (g), and mean vessel density (h) calculated for the three groups shown in d. All data are reported as the mean ± SD of results. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.005 vs the corresponding groups