Fig. 3

Expression of semaphorin 3E (Sema3E) in skin of healthy controls and patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). a, b Representative microphotographs of skin sections from healthy controls (a) (n = 12) and patients with SSc (b) (n = 14) immunostained for Sema3E (green) and counterstained with 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI; blue) for nuclei. c-f Representative microphotographs of skin sections from healthy controls (c, e) (n = 12) and patients with SSc (d, f) (n = 14) double immunostained for Sema3E (green) and CD31/platelet-endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1) (red) and counterstained with DAPI (blue). Arrows indicate Sema3E expression in dermal microvascular endothelial cells. Original magnification: × 20 (a, b), × 40 (c, d), × 63 (e, f). Scale bars are indicated in each panel. g Densitometric analysis of Sema3E immunofluorescent staining in skin biopsies expressed as optical density (OD) in arbitrary units (a.u.). Control skin OD value was set to 100 %; the other results are normalized to this value. Data are mean ± SD. Student’s t test was used for statistical analysis