Femke Mathot

7 Motor results of MSC-seeded nerve allografts 115 Statistical analysis All obtained images were blinded and all outcomes were expressed as a percentage of the contralateral side to correct for biological variability between rats. Non-physiologic outcomes were excluded from analysis after review by a statistician and an independent researcher. Two- way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for the cross-sectional tibial area measurements. One-way ANOVA was used to compare all other outcome measures between groups. Post- hoc Bonferroni was used to correct for multiple comparisons. Outcomes were expressed as the mean and the standard error of the mean (SEM). Outcomes of cross-sectional tibial muscle area were expressed as mean difference and the standard error of the mean difference. The level of significance was set at a> 0.05. RESULTS MSC differentiation Differentiated MSCs showed immunofluorescence for the markers S100, GFAP and p75 NTR, corresponding to Schwann cells that served as positive controls. Undifferentiated MSCs did not show expression of these markers ( figure 1 ). Figure 1. Differentiation of MSCs into Schwann-like cells. Comparison of immunocytochemistry between undifferentiated MSCs (A-D-G), differentiated MSCs (B-E-H) and Schwann cells (C-F-I). Cells are tested for the presence of Schwann cell marker S100 (green, A-B-C), glial cell marker GFAP (red, D-E-F) and neurotrophin Receptor p75 (green, G-H-I). Cell nuclei are DAPI-stained (blue). 40X magnificantion, white scale bar = 40μm.