Journal: Nature Communications
Article Title: Nociceptive sensory neuron-derived NGF orchestrates a fibrotic mesenchymal stromal cell neurogenic niche to drive tendon pathological fibrosis
doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-67396-y
Figure Lengend Snippet: A , B experimental procedure and phenotypic diagram of Prrx1 Hif1a mice and Prrx1 VHL mice. C H&E and Masson staining and double IF of αSMA (green) and Col1 (red) of peritendinous tissue from WT mice injected with Veh or TPX0005, Prrx1 Hif1 α mice injected with Veh or NGF, Prrx1 VHL mice injected with TPX0005 at 14 days after modeling ( n = 6), and investigation analysis of ROM ( n = 6). Scale bars of of H&E and Masson staining: 300 μm. Scale bars of double-immunofluorescent staining: 100 μm. D , E Analysis of fibrosis percentage and ROM of WT mice, Prrx1 Hif1 α mice and Prrx1 VHL mice ( n = 6). F Analysis of Col1 + αSMA + cells of WT mice, Prrx1 Hif1 α mice and Prrx1 VHL mice ( n = 6). G IF of Prrx1 (red) cells and α-SMA (green) cells from four groups in vitro. Scale bars: 20 μm. H The diagram of sorting Prrx1 + MSCs from fibrosis tissues of four types of mice. I , J Protein expressions of Hif1α in fibrosis tissue of Prrx1 TrkA mice and Adv NGF mice ( n = 3). K , L Protein expressions of Twist1 in fibrosis tissue of WT mice, Prrx1 Hif1a mice, Prrx1 TrkA mice and Adv NGF mice ( n = 3). M Adv NGF mice, Prrx1 TrkA mice and Prrx1 Hif1a mice experimental procedure and phenotypic diagram in a skin wound fibrotic healing model. N , O Representative macroscopic illustration and macroscopic quantification of individual wound areas at D0-14 in Adv NGF mice, Prrx1 TrkA mice and Prrx1 Hif1a mice ( n = 6). P H&E stained sections of wound areas on D14 in Adv NGF mice, Prrx1 TrkA mice and Prrx1 Hif1a mice used for morphometric analysis of percentage of ( Q ) wound closure (length of newly formed epithelium (NFE)/length of NFE + length of gap between edges of wound epithelium (black dotted line) × 100), ( R ) area of HPE, ( S ) wound contraction (distance between wound border HFs (blue dotted line)), and ( T ) re-epithelialisation (length of NFE) ( n = 6). Yellow dashed line shows space between tendon and surrounding tissues. Black or white dashed line shows space occupied by fibrosis tissues. T represents tendon; AD represents fibrosis tissue; M represents muscle(mean ± SD; D – F : ANOVA with multiple comparisons, J / L / O / Q – T : unpaired t-test; * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001, **** P < 0.0001; A (mouse)/ B (mouse)/ H (mouse)/ M created in Adobe. Author, Yanhao Li. (2025). Contact the author for publication if needed; A (tendon, fibrosis tissue, MSCs and myofibroblasts)/ B (tendon, fibrosis tissue, MSCs and myofibroblasts)/ G (MSCs)/ H (tendon, fibrosis tissue and MSCs) created in BioRender. Author, li, y. (2025)) https://BioRender.com/0hlz1hf ).
Article Snippet: The adhesion grading scale and healing grading scale were assessed as before. (Supplementary Fig. ; Supplementary Fig. ) The primary antibodies used in this section were as follows: α-smooth muscle actin (αSMA, Cell Signaling, 19245 and 48938, 1:200); calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP, Cell Signaling, 14959, 1:200); nerve growth factor (NGF, Abcam, 52918, 1:150); neuron nucleus (NeuN, Cell Signaling, 94403 s, 1:100); Nestin (Aves Labs, NES, 1:200); TrkA (BIOSS, bs-0193R, 1:200); and Hif1α (NOVUS, H1alpha67, 1:300); Prrx1(NOVUS, NBP1-06067, 1:200); Collagen 1(Abcam, 138492, 1:200 for IF, 1:500 for WB); Collagen 3(Abcam, 184993, 1:200 for IF, 1:500 for WB); PGP9.5(Cell Signaling, 60702, 1:200); VHL(Abcam, 140989, 1:500); Engrailed-1(Sigma, AB5732, 1:200).
Techniques: Staining, Injection, In Vitro