Fig. 2

Muscle histology and electrophysiology data

(A) Gross appearance of tibialis anterior muscles for groups at fourteen DPI. TA muscle cross-sections were stained with Masson’s Trichrome. (B) Representative 2-week uninjured, VML, DSM, MM and DSM + MM repair groups are presented. Magnified (100X) images are shown. Inset indicates approximate location of magnified image within the TA cross-section. Scale bar = 100 μm. (C) Tibialis anterior mass (g/kg rat body weight) and electrophysiological measurement of mean peak contractile force for all groups (D) at fourteen DPI, indicating deficits in functional outcome among VML, MM, DSM, and DSM + MM-treated muscles relative to the uninjured contralateral limb at 14 DPI (p = 0.0001, < 0.0001, < 0.0001 and 0.0127, respectively). The *, **, ***, and **** indicate statistically significant difference of p < 0.05, p < 0.01, p < 0.001, and p < 0.0001 when comparing each group to uninjured controls. Error bars are presented as ± standard deviation, with N = 4–5 animals per treatment group. Scale-bar = 1 cm