In-vivo NIRF imaging data

The right and left thigh of anesthetized rats were imaged with a preclinical fluorescence imager (LiCOR® Pearl Impulse from LI-COR Biosciences, Lincoln, NE) on day-11 and day-17 post-surgery, in day-12 and day-18 testing groups respectively. Images in the fluorescent channel (785 nm excitation for 820 nm emission) and a white light channel (to capture an image of the body of the rat) are acquired and merged in the LiCOR Pearl Impulse Software (version 2.0) with linked look-up-tables (LUT). In order to avoid non-specific fluorescence in the abdominal and thoracic region, animals were given a controlled research diet throughout the procedure (D10012G Research Diets, Inc. New Brunswick, NJ). NIRF images were analyzed using Image Studio Lite Software (LI-COR Biosciences, Lincoln, NE). Briefly, a region of interest (ROI) was selected over the sciatic nerve. Relative fluorescence of ROI was calculated by dividing the total fluorescence in the ROI by the area. Relative fluorescence of the testing groups is analyzed by one-way ANOVA, with a Tukey’s post hoc test to test multiple comparisons of group means. The confidence interval is set at 95%. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. The statistical software used is GraphPad Prism 6.