Fig. 3

Macrophage-derived CTSS is involved in the sensory recovery of the lower lip post-IANX. A Time course of HWT in IANX rats treated with control medium (CM), M2 macrophage (M2), or M2 + Z-FL. n = 5 in each, GEE post hoc Bonferroni’s test. *P < 0.05, ^†P < 0.05. B, C Blot of CTSS in the cell lysate (B) or supernatant (C) of non-stimulated macrophages (M0) and IL-4/IL-13-stimulated macrophages (M2). The column represents the average values of CTSS/β-actin. n = 4–5 independent cultures, unpaired t test, ***P < 0.001 in B. The column represents the relative expression of CTSS. n = 5 in each, unpaired t test **P < 0.01 in C. D Blot of CTSS in M2 macrophage treated with siCont or siCtss. The column represents the average values of CTSS/β-actin. n = 5 independent cultures, Mann–Whitney U test. *P < 0.05. E Time course of HWT in IANX rats transplanted with siCont-treated M2 macrophages or siCtss-treated M2 macrophages. n = 5 in each, GEE post hoc Bonferroni’s test. ***P < 0.001. Boxes show the 25th–75th percentiles with the median value as a line within each box, and whiskers indicate the 10th and 90th percentiles of the data in A, D, and E. Data represent the mean ± SEM in B and C. All data points are shown as open circles