Protection of the Peritoneal Membrane by Peritoneal Dialysis Effluent-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells in a Rat Model of Chronic Peritoneal Dialysis

Figure 3

Treatment with pMSCs prevents an increase in submesothelial layer thickening and neoangiogenesis of the peritoneal membrane (PM). At the end of 6 weeks of treatment, peritoneal tissue sections (2 sections/rat) were taken from rats (naïve: , vehicle: , pMSCs: ) after UF measurement. (a) A typical microscopic image of H&E-stained peritoneal tissue sections in each group, showing the thickness of the submesothelial layer of the PM indicated by the distance between black two arrows. Nuclear dark blue stain: cellular infiltrates; blue arrows: blood vessels; black thin bar: 100 μm. M: muscle. (b) The thickness of the submesothelial layer in each tissue section was measured using the Digital Image Hub software. Data were presented as of each group and were statistically analyzed using the two-tailed -test. (vehicle vs. naïve), (pMSCs vs. vehicle), and (naïve vs. pMSCs). (c) The density of blood vessels (neoangiogenesis) in the PM was counted as the number of the blood vessels and capillaries per millimeter. Data were presented as of each group and were statistically analyzed using the two-tailed -test. (vehicle vs. naïve), (pMSCs vs. vehicle), and (naïve vs. pMSCs).

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