Fibro-adipogenic progenitors prevent skeletal muscle degeneration at acute phase upon tendon rupture in a murine tibialis anterior tenotomy model

Figure 2 Change in fibro-adipogenic progenitors population after tendon rupture observed in C57BL/6 mice. A: The gating strategy of fluorescence-activated cell sorting for fibro-adipogenic progenitors (FAPs) in the tibialis anterior muscle of C57BL/6 mice; B: The fluorescence-activated cell sorting results of FAPs in the muscle at 0 day, 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks, and 6 weeks, respectively, after tibialis anterior tenotomy (TAT) or sham surgery (SS) in C57BL/6 mice; C: Subsequent analysis showing the proportion of FAPs among CD45^-CD31^- cells (^aP < 0.001, ^bP < 0.001, ^cP < 0.001, ^dP < 0.001, ^eP < 0.001, ^fP < 0.001, ^gP < 0.001, TAT compared to SS side at 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks, and 6 weeks, respectively); D: The proportion of FAPs among live cells (^aP < 0.001, ^bP < 0.001, ^cP < 0.001, ^dP < 0.001, ^eP < 0.001, TAT compared to SS side at 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, and 4 weeks, respectively); E: The number of FAPs per gram tibialis anterior muscle (^aP < 0.001, ^bP < 0.001, ^cP < 0.001, ^dP < 0.001, ^eP < 0.001, ^fP < 0.001, ^gP < 0.001, TAT compared to SS side at 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks, and 6 weeks, respectively). TAT: Tibialis anterior tenotomy; SS: Sham surgery; FAPs: Fibro-adipogenic progenitors.