Fig. 8

The percentage of proliferating cells in response to MuSK stimulation as measured by carboxyfluorescein succinimidyl ester (CFSE) labeling (upper panel). Lymph node cells of MuSK-immunized but not CFA-immunized mice showed significant proliferation by MuSK stimulation. Proliferation was less pronounced in MuSK-immunized mice treated with dental follicle mesenchymal stem cell (DFMSC) than those with no DFMSC treatment. Stimulation indices were analyzed by dividing lymph node cell percentages obtained by MuSK stimulation (red or yellow bars) by percentages obtained by no stimulation (blue bars). Only MuSK-immunized mice with no MSC treatment showed significantly increased indices, whereas MuSK-SC mice had comparable stimulation indices to CFA-immunized mice (lower panels). *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001 by ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc test. Vertical bars indicate standard errors