Fig 2: Neurotrophic secretion of rat ADSCs. (A) Immunocytochemistry indicated neurotrophic factors as NGF (panel a), GDNF (panel b), fibronectin (panel c) and laminin (panel d) could be detected in rat ADSCs and supernatants of cultured medium. Green fluorescence indicates the protein of interest, and blue fluorescence indicates nuclei. (B) ELISA results were consistent. Data are expressed as the mean ± standard deviation. *P<0.01 vs. control group. ADSCs, adipose derived stem cells.

Fig 3: SCs in the co-culture system. (A) Cell viability assay indicated that the cell viability of SCs co-cultured with ADSCs for 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 days was significantly higher than those cultured alone. (B) Secretion of neurotrophic factors in the co-culture system. NGF, GDNF, FN and LN in the supernatants of SCs in the co-culture system were significantly higher than in SCs cultured alone, as ELISA revealed. (C) Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction demonstrated that mRNA expression levels of neurotrophic factors (NGF, GDNF) and extracellular matrix components (FN, LN) in SCs co-cultured with ADSCs for 14 days were significantly higher than those in SCs cultured alone. Data are expressed as the mean ± standard deviation. *P<0.01 vs. control group. FN, fibronectin; LN, laminin; NGF, nerve growth factor; GDNF, glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor; SC, Schwann cell; ADSCs, adipose derived stem cells; OD, optical density.

Fig 4: The mRNA expression level of miR-211 (left panel) and GDNF (right panel) in rat enteric glial cells. Cells are transfected with (a) miR-211 mimic, (b) miR-211 inhibitor, or the respective control. *p < 0.05.

Fig 5: GDNF levels in the conditioned medium collected from IEC-6 cells cultured with medium from EGCs transfected with control inhibitor, miR-211 inhibitor, miRNA mimic control, miR-211 mimic, siRNA control, or GDNF siRNA, respectively. GDNF levels were determined by ELISA. EGCs: rat enteric glial cells. ***p < 0.01; ****p < 0.0001.