Fig. 6

In vivo evaluations for regeneration-related bioactivities of the scaffolds. (A) Representative PAS staining of scaffold region for assessment of fibrosis at 2 and 8 weeks after implantations (Scale bars equal to 200 μm). (B) The gene expression levels of angiogenic markers (VEGF, HGF, and HIP-1α) at 2 and 8 weeks after implantations (n = 3). (C) The gene expression levels of pro-inflammatory factors (NF-kB and IL-6) and (D) anti-inflammatory factors (IL-4, IL-1Ra) at 2 and 8 weeks after implantations (n = 3). (Values are presented as mean ± SD (n = 3) and statistical significance was obtained with unpaired t tests or one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Tukey’s multiple comparison post-test (*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; ****p < 0.0001))