Fig. 5

Biochemical and histological analysis of NRA, DRA, RRA, and RRA/AP-13 tissues. The DNA content of the RRA group was significantly higher than that of the DRA group, while it was significantly lower than recellularized tissue bioconjugated with apelin-13 (A), Hydroxyproline content of all recellularized tissues does not show a considerable decrease compared to DRA or NRA groups (B), and GAG content in recellularized tissues does not change significantly compared to native and acellular tissues (C), H&E staining indicates attachment of endothelial cells to the luminal surface of vessel (D), Masson’s trichrome staining (E), and orcein staining (F) of NRA, DRA, RRA, and RRA/AP-13 groups are shown in Fig. 6 representing consistent structure of collagen and elastin fibers in the vascular tissue (* difference with NRA, P < 0.05; ** difference with NRA, P < 0.01; *** difference with NRA, P < 0.001; # difference with RRA/AP-13, P < 0.05; and ^ difference with RRA, P < 0.05). NRA: Native Rat Aorta, DRA: Decellularized Rat Aorta, RRA: Recellularized Rat Aorta, RRA/AP-13: Recellularized Rat Aorta Conjugated with Apelin-13