Fig. 4

Early-stage tissue evaluation after neurite bundle-derived artificial nerve transplantation. a, b Immunohistochemistry images with anti-NFH and anti-CD31 antibodies. Dotted arrows indicate the proximal side of the intact nerve areas, and solid arrows indicate the NFH- and CD31-positive regeneration tip in the reconstructed tissue. Scale bars = 1 mm. c, d Quantitative comparison of axonal extension distance was indicated by NFH-positive areas and that of vascular elongation distance was demonstrated by CD31-positive areas at 1 and 2 weeks after transplantation. Significant differences between groups elongation distances were observed in 2-week samples only. e, f Iba1 immunohistochemistry image of the proximal part of the regenerated tissue at 2 weeks after transplantation (e). Scale bars = 1 mm. Quantitative analysis of Iba1-positive areas demonstrated that a larger number of macrophages aggregated in the Auto, motor TP and sensory TP (f). (n = 3). * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, N.S. = not significant. Data are represented as the mean ± SEM