C-kit⁺ cells before purification.

<p>Panel A showed the representative images on tissue section (a) of atrial appendages or freshly isolated cells before (b) and after plating (c–f) at passage 2 (P2) to P8 from the same patient. C-kit⁺ cells were showed in green (FITC, see arrows in a and b, but all green cells in c–f) and nuclei were stained in blue (DAPI). The negative controls included secondary antibody (g. 2^ndAB) alone and human Jurkat cells (h) stained with c-kit antibody. Scale bars = 20 µm. Panel B displayed the Mean±SEM data from ICC (open bar) and Flow Cytometry (filled bar). n = 4–9 patients. *<i>p</i><0.05, ***: <i>p</i><0.01, ns: no significance, all were compared to control (Tissue).