Local treatment with sE-selectin enhanced homing of circulating EPCs and vasculogenesis in ischemic hindlimb of WT mice. A million EPCs cultured from bone marrow of eGFP transgenic mice (green) were systemically transplanted into WT mice after induction of ischemic hindlimb. Before EPC transplantation, either BSA or sE-selectin (sE-sel) was injected into ischemic muscle. (A) Representative fluorescent image of muscle one week after ischemia (scale bar, 100 μm). Transplanted EPCs were identified in tissue sections by green fluorescence, and the ECs were stained by BS-1 lectin (red) in the same tissue sections. (B) Quantitative analysis of incorporated EPCs. EPC homing was enhanced to ischemic muscle where sE-selectin was injected compared with BSA (BSA vs sE-selectin = 109 ± 23 vs 154 ± 14 cells/mm²; †P < .05; n = 4). (C) Computer-assisted quantitative analysis of hindlimb perfusion showed a significantly improved blood perfusion ratio of ischemic/nonischemic limb in the group of mice injected with sE-selectin than BSA at day 14 and 21 (†P < .05; n = 9, respectively). (D) Local injection of sE-selectin rescued ischemic limb more than BSA. Administration of sE-selectin resulted in a lower rate of limb loss (amputation) compared with BSA (sE-selectin vs BSA, 11.1% [1 of 9] vs 33.3% [3 of 9]). The rate of complete limb salvage was also higher in sE-selectin (55.5% [5 of 9]) than BSA (33.3% [3 of 9]). Error bars in panels B and C represent SD.