Wnt signaling pathway inhibitor promotes mesenchymal stem cells differentiation into cardiac progenitor cells in vitro and improves cardiomyopathy in vivo

Figure 7 Histological analysis of heart sections. A: Large scan images showing Masson’s trichrome stained transverse section of the whole heart; B: Magnified images showing Masson’s trichrome stained sections in sham control, myocardial infarction (MI+), mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) (MI+MSCs), and inhibitor Wnt production-4 (IWP-4) treated MSCs (MI+IWP-4) groups after 4 wk of MI; C: Images showing isolated rat hearts of sham control, MI+ group, MI+MSC group, and MI+IWP-4 groups; D: Bar graph showing percent infarcted area as compared to MI+ group. Percent infarcted area was significantly decreased in MI+MSC and MI+IWP-4 groups after 4 wk of MI; E: Bar graph showing left ventricular wall thickness as compared to MI+ group; left ventricular wall thickness was non-significant in MI+MSC group and significantly increased in the MI+IWP-4 group after 4 wk of MI. For statistical analysis, One-way ANOVA was used followed by the Bonferroni post-hoc test. Data is presented as mean ± SEM with significance level P < 0.05 where (^bP < 0.01, ^cP < 0.001). IWP-4: Inhibitor Wnt production-4; MSC: Mesenchymal stem cell; MI: Myocardial infarction; NS: No significant.