Fig. 3

Ventricular wall histology for rat hearts 10 w after MI. Rats were divided into 3 injection treatment groups (immediately after MI (IM), 3 d after MI (3D) and 2 w after MI (2 W)) and 2 control groups (healthy and MI without treatments). Representative Masson’s trichrome stained cross-sections: a Healthy control, b MI control, c, f, i IM group, d, g, j 3D group, e, h, k 2 W group. A-H scale bars = 1 mm. Orange arrows point to the hydrogel residues, black arrows point to foreign body giant cells. Wall thickness (l) and infarction size (m) were measured from the complete set of these images. * indicates significant differences between groups. (Reprinted from Yoshizumi et al. [47])