Functional analysis of MSC-derived VSMC-like cells. Cell area reduction assay showed that MSCs have the lowest contractile capability upon exposure to KCl (A) and carbachol (B), respectively. Both KCl and carbachol induced significant decreases in cell area for the static and dynamic groups compared to the negative control MSCs, and the cell area for the dynamic group was reduced more than that for the static group (A and B). Collagen lattice contraction assay showed that four groups of cells embedded in collagen gel could induce apparent contraction of the collagen gel, and the positive VSMC group exhibited the highest contraction capability among them (C). Quantitative analysis demonstrated that there was no significant difference between the collagen gel areas for the static and dynamic groups (D and E). Data are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 3). #P > 0.05, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.