PM treatment decreased murine BMSCs level without induction of apoptosis.

<p>After C57BL/6 mice were exposed to PM or PBS through intranasal distillation for 1 month, the BM cells were collected after treating with red blood cell lysis and stained with Lineage cocktail Pacific Blue, Sca-1 PE-Cy5 and CD133 PE antibody for flow-cytometry analysis for BMSCs as defined as lineage negative Sca-1 positive (LS) and Lineage negative CD133 positive (Lin^-/CD133⁺) cells. The BMSCs number was significantly decreased in C57BL/6 mice with PM exposure compared to the PBS control (A). Annexin V and PI were used to incubate the cells for apoptosis analysis. Both early and late apoptotic rates of cells in the mice with PM exposure were similar to the control PBS group (B). PBS: C57BL/6 mice with PBS treatment; PM: C57BL/6 mice with PM exposure. * PM vs PBS, P<0.01, n = 8.