Fig. 3

hOM-MSC localise in blood vessels and reduce blood–brain barrier (BBB) disruption within severe EAE spinal cord. a Immunohistochemical images of spinal cord and brain cortex of EAE mice after GFP-expressing hOM-MSCs were injected during severe disease. Only a few hOM-MSCs located in what appeared to be blood vessels lined with astrocytes (GFAP, shown in red) within spinal cord tissue and brain cortex 24 h post injection. b Immunohistochemical images of spinal cord after i.v. injection of FITC-Dextran dye at different levels of dextran disruption (Score 0, none; Score 1, slight; Score 3 severe) PBS, n = 4; hOM-MSCs, n = 4. c Average animal BBB severity score showed a significantly lower score in hOM-MSC injected animals compared to PBS controls. d A greater number of hOM-MSCs injected sections were scored as slight disruption compared to the PBS control animals which had a greater number of medium to severe disruption scores. e There were no significant differences between animal EAE clinical score at day of cell injection or at day of perfusion. f Laminin staining (shown in red) of severe EAE spinal cord 5 days post-cell or PBS injection. g Quantification of laminin expression shows hOM-MSC animals had significantly reduced levels compared to controls correlating with reduced disruption of the BBB. PBS, n = 4; hOM-MSCs, n = 4; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, Students unpaired t test. Scale bar represents 25 μm (a), 100 μm (b), 200 μm (f)