Figure 4

HIF-1 and SDF-1 induce the remodeling of the lung after MSC transplantation. A) Normal control group; B) COPD group; C) COPD + ⁶⁰CO γ irradiation + MSCs transplantation; D) COPD + rAAV-SPA-TK injection + ⁶⁰CO γ irradiation + MSC transplantation; E) COPD + AAV injection + ⁶⁰CO γ irradiation + MSC transplantation. Analysis of HIF-1α (I, III) and SDF-1 (II, IV) expression in lung tissue by immunohistochemistry (I, II), western blotting, and real-time PCR (III, IV). The cells with yellow cytoplasm expressed HIF-1α and SDF-1. HIF-1α and SDF-1 were mainly expressed in airways and alveolar epithelia, and in the vascular endothelium and macrophages. No cells with yellow cytoplasm were found in group A. The mRNA and protein expression of HIF-1α and SDF-1 were increased in the other four groups, but there was no difference between groups B, C, and E. In group D, the expression of HIF-1α and SDF-1 was increased by several fold compared with that in groups B, C, and E. Scale bars = 100 μm. The results are expressed as the mean ± SD, n = 10 in each group.*P < 0.01 compared with the other four groups.