Research Paper Volume 15, Issue 12 pp 5514—5534

Figure 2. hucMSCs treatment alleviated pulmonary fibrosis in mice. (A) Schematic of the administration of BLM or hucMSCs into mice. (B) MicroCT images for small animal depicting that the BLM group had honeycomb-like changes and uneven patchy shadows compared with the sham group. These fibrotic symptoms were remarkably alleviated in the hucMSCs-treated group. (C) H&E and Masson staining results indicated that excess collagen was deposited, alveolar structure was damaged, and the alveolar wall was thickened in the BLM group. Meanwhile, collagen deposition was reduced and the alveolar structure was clear and complete in the hucMSCs-treated group. (D) FVC result showed that hucMSCs treatment improved the lung function of mice compared with the sham group. Body weight monitoring revealed that hucMSCs treatment suppressed the body mass loss compared with that in the sham mice. (E) Western blot analysis indicated that hucMSCs inhibited the expression of fibrotic proteins such as α-SMA, vimentin, collagen I, and collagen III and the differentiation-related proteins S100A4 and FAP1. Each bar represents the mean ± SD; n = 6; ^*p < 0.05.