Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells as treatment of adjuvant rheumatoid arthritis in a rat model

Figure 1 Decreased severity of complete freunds adjuvant induced arthritis after treatment with human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells. A: compares the gross appearance of a normal rat hindpaw and a fully ankylosed hindpaw from a complete freunds adjuvant (CFA)-immunized rat at day 34; B: Rats with established CFA injected intra-articular with 5 μL sterile saline, 0.9% PBS in positive control (PC), 1 × 10⁶ mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) in MSC group and 1 × 10⁶ hematopoietic stem cell in hematopoietic (CD34+) stem cell (HSC) group and 0.3 mg/kg twice a week for 5 wk in methotrexate (MTX) group. Arthritis severity was assessed by clinical scoring at day 12, 34, 44, 55, 68 post-immunization with CFA; C: mean hind paw diameter was determined at day 12, 34, 44, 55, 68 post immunization with CFA. ^aP < 0.05 MSC vs control, ^cP < 0.05 MSC vs MTX group; ^eP < 0.05 MSC vs HSC group.