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Fig. 1 | Arthritis Research & Therapy

Fig. 1

From: Laminin-rich blood vessels display activated growth factor signaling and act as the proliferation centers in Dupuytren’s contracture

Fig. 1

Proliferative cells locate prevalently in the myofibroblast compartment of small blood vessels in DC. Sections were stained with antibodies recognizing SMA, vWF, desmin and Ki67 as indicated on the panels. Proliferative Ki67-positive cells concentrate around and inside the small blood vessels in DC (a) and are located prevalently in the SMA-positive myofibroblast compartment of the blood vessels (b, d, violet arrows). (d) represents a surface-rendering model of an image stack obtained with a confocal microscope. Proliferative nuclei (violet arrows) are embedded in the SMA-expressing myofibroblast layer (green). Rare Ki67-positive cells were found in the vWF-positive endothelial compartment (c, white arrows), which is located inside the SMA-stained myofibroblast layer (b, white arrow). No proliferative cells could be detected among the desmin-labeled pericytes (e). Quantitation of the relative number of proliferative cells inside and in the immediate vicinity of the blood vessel wall (f, 6 patients, 45 sections) reveals that the majority of the proliferative cells are found in the myofibroblast layer. Scale bars: 20 μm. DC Dupuytren’s contracture, SMA smooth muscle actin, vWF von Willebrand’s factor

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