Fig. 2From: Developing an animal model of Dupuytren’s disease by orthotopic transplantation of human fibroblasts into athymic ratImaging of human fibroblasts transplanted to nude rat forepaws shows cellular persistence for 62 days. Non-invasive in vivo imaging of the forepaws receiving DiR labeled CT-and DD-derived fibroblasts showed persistence of both populations of cells to 62 days (n = 6). The emitted fluorescent signal gradually declined over time for both cell types, but at day 62 DD-cells showed a significantly greater presence than CT-cells. (a) A representative image of the emitted fluorescent signals over time. Animals were injected with DD-derived fibroblasts in the left forepaw and with CT-derived fibroblasts on the right forepaw. (b) Quantitative assessment of emitted fluorescent signal over time, with day 5 set at 100 % of total flux. Statistical analyses using ANOVA showed a significant difference in the intensity of persisting fluorescence signal over time between the forepaw that received CT- and DD-derived fibroblasts. p value was < 0.0001Back to article page