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. 2009 May 13;4(5):e5514. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0005514

Figure 5. Phenotype stability under normoxia.

Figure 5

After the third passage, the smooth muscle cells phenotype stability of differentiated cell cultivated under normoxic conditions was investigated by confocal microscopy observation (A) and flow cytometry analyses (B, C). A: Microscopical observations show positive cells for contractile markers: α- Smooth Muscle Actin (α-SMA), Smooth Muscle Myosin Heavy Chain (SM-MHC) and Calponin confluence on both coated surfaces (type I collagen and Polyelectrolyte Multilayer films (PEMs)). Objective×40, NA = 0.8, scale bars 75 µm. B: Flow cytometry showed that about 90% cells expressed SMCs markers. C: Mean fluorescence intensity analyses showed a higher SMCs contractile markers expression for differentiated cells compared to control (mature SMCs) whatever the surface coating. (§) PEMs versus control, (*) Collagen versus control. (§ and *: p<0.05, §§ and **: p<0.01, and *** p<0.001).