Fig. 7. Neural stem cells engraft and differentiate in damaged host tissue. Clusters of EGFP⁺ differentiating NSCs grown in MB-media were injected into physically damaged hearts and allowed to engraft. Epifluorescent images of the damaged heart before (A) and after (B) injection are shown. (C) EGFP⁺ NSCs engraft into damaged myocardium and differentiate. Immunofluorescent images of cardiac myosin heavy chain immunoreactive cells and EGFP⁺ injected cells are presented. In the merged image, the EGFP⁺-injected cells are also cardiac MHC-positive. (D) Scanning z sections through the injured heart further demonstrate that the EGFP⁺ cells have initiated myocardial differentiation as measured by the appearance of cardiac myosin expression. Scale bar: 10 µm.