Figure 3

Transplantation of lentivirus-transduced BMMSCs boosted levels of BDNF and VEGF proteins in the rat brain. Immunohistochemistry using a specific antibody against BDNF or VEGF was performed on coronal sections from each animal in the respective groups. Representative micrographs demonstrate differential immunoreactivity of both BDNF and VEGF in both hippocampal CA1 and temporal cortex areas of rat brains from respective groups. Arrows indicate typical immunoreactive cells. Quantified BDNF- or VEGF-immunoreactive cells in the hippocampus or temporal cortex are depicted as immunoreactivity scores (the last second row). Western blots of tissue lysates from hippocampus or temporal cortex and corresponding densitometric quantification relative to the GAPDH loading control confirm immunohistochemistry results (bottom row). Data are depicted as mean±S.D. ** indicates P-value <0.001. Sham, normal control; Blank, CA-GCII with PBS; BM-Vehicle, CA-GCII with naïve BMMSCs; BM-B&V, CA-GCII with BMMSCs co-transduced with BDNF- and VEGF-lentiviruses