Bone marrow cells produce nerve growth factor and promote angiogenesis around transplanted islets

Figure 1 Serum nerve growth factor (NGF) data. Serum NGF levels increased post-transplantation in islet, bone marrow, and islet + bone marrow groups, while there was no increase in the sham group. There was a significant difference between bone marrow and sham group. Statistical analysis was performed by two ways repeated measurement ANOVA and significant difference was ^aP < 0.05 vs POD 0.

Figure 2 Histological findings. Kidney specimen from islet + bone marrow group stained with HE (top), Insulin (middle) and NGF (bottom) at POD 3, 7 and 14. Bone marrow cells stained strongly for NGF compared to islets at all time points (indicated by arrow). Magnification = 100 ×, Calibration bar = 1000 μm.

Figure 3 Correlation between serum NGF and blood glucose, serum insulin and GTT AUC. There were no correlation between serum NGF and other islet functional factors. R² > 0.25 and P < 0.05 is significant correlation.