Fig. 5

Histologic measurements of muscle regeneration, vascularization, and degeneration. Muscle regeneration was defined by the percentage of fibers with centralized nuclei (a) and Pax7⁺ cells per muscle fiber (b), demonstrating elevation compared to prior literature in muscle [39, 40]. Vascularization was assessed by that number of Von Willebrand Factor positive vessels per square millimeter (c) demonstrating lower vascularity compared to prior literature in muscle [41]. Degeneration was quantified by the percentage of muscle fibers that exhibited signs of degeneration (moth eaten fibers, cell infiltration, core fibers, and myophagocytosis) per square millimeter. Measurements were made for both superficial (black) and deep (gray) biopsy samples