Fig-1. Differentiation increases gene expression and survival in DPSCs.
(A) Rat DPSCs (5×105/ml) were cultured in media alone (undifferentiated) or with the combination of β-glycerophosphate (10 mM) and ascorbic acid (50μg/ml) (-Dex), or with the combination of β-glycerophosphate (10 mM), ascorbic acid (50μg/ml) and Dexamethsone (10−8M) (+Dex). The levels of Osteopontin and Osteocalcin gene induction were determined by RT-PCR 14 days after the cells were seeded. GAPDH was used as the loading control. One of four independent experiments is shown in this figure (B) Rat DPSCs (1×106/ml) were cultured in media alone (undifferentiated) or with the combination of β-glycerophosphate (10 mM) and ascorbic acid (50μg/ml) (-Dex), or with the combination of β-glycerophosphate (10 mM), ascorbic acid (50μg/ml) and Dexamethsone (10−8M) (+Dex) for 14 days, after which they were treated with HEMA and NAC (20 mM) as indicated in the figure for 18 hours. The levels of cell death were assessed by FITC-Annexin V and Propidium Iodide (PI) staining. The numbers in each histogram are the percentages of cells positive for that quadrant. One of six independent experiments is shown in this figure (C) Rat DPSCs were treated as described in Fig. 1B and staining for ALP was carried out as described in the Materials and Methods section. One of six independent experiments is shown in this figure