Fig. 5

Masson and IHC stains in the muscle adjacent to the fracture site in different groups. a Masson staining results: (a, e) no obvious new collagen deposition and myofiber necrosis in group 1, (b, f) a few myofiber necrosis (blue arrow) in group 2, (c, g) moderate myofiber necrosis (black arrow) in group 3, and (d, h) severe myofiber necrosis (red arrow) in group 4. b Caspase-3 staining results: (a, e) no obvious necrotic inflammatory cells in group 1, (b, f) moderate necrosis with a few positively stained nuclei (blue arrow) in group 2, (c, g) obvious necrotic with numerous positively stained nuclei (black arrow) in group 3, and (d, h) severe necrotic myofibers with more positively stained nuclei (red arrow) in group 4. c Different caspase-3 positively stained cell distributions in different groups; it is the highest in group 4 than other groups. ***P < 0.01; scale bar = 200 μm in a; scale bar = 50 μm in b