Vascular ultrasound examinations were performed on all rats before and after operation, luminal diameter and blood flow were measured using a small animal ultrasound scanner with a linear array transducer at 4 weeks after operation. CM-Dil-labeled hucMSCs observed by a fluorescence microscope (Olympus, Japan) was used to examine the homing of transplanted hucMSCs to the site of the vein grafts 3 days after transplantation. Endothelial regeneration was evaluated by CD34 immunofluorescence 14 days after vein grafting as we have previously described [13 (link)]. All the remaining animals were then humanely killed and the vein grafts samples were harvested. The therapeutic effects of hucMSCs were evaluated by subsequent histological and immunohistochemical examination.
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