Figure 1

Experimental protocol. Animals were subjected to permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (pMCAO) to induce cerebral ischemia. Rats were randomly divided into 3 groups, which were intravenously injected with saline (control), hAD-MSCs (2 × 10⁶) and rAD-MSCs (2 × 10⁶) in the femoral vein 30 min after stroke. The analyzed parameters were as follows: at 24 h and 14 d, a functional evaluation by Roger’s scale, migration and implantation of MSCs and assessment of lesion size using MRI; at 14 d, migration, implantation and biodistribution of MSCs and a histological and molecular analysis of the peri-infarct zone; at 3 months, tumor formation by inmmunohistochemistry. Sham-operated and healthy animals were also subjected to the same parameter analyses.