Click on image to view larger version.
Figure 3. Cell fusion demonstrated in two models of heterotopic cardiac xenotransplantations. The donor hamster (A) or mouse (B) heart is transplanted into the abdominal cavity of a GFP+ transgenic rat. The transplanted heart suffers tissue damage and remodeling and recruits circulating GFP+ cells, which engraft the heart and home preferentially into areas of tissue remodeling. GFP+ cells occasionally fuse with resident cardiomyocytes, thus generating hybrid cardiomyocytes expressing both GFP and donor markers, that is, hamster surface antigen (A) or nuclear lacZ (B).
