Figure 2.

mTERT-MSC line retains morphology, phenotype, and multilineage capacity of Sca- 1^pos MSC. (a) Freshly extracted (p1) Sca-1^pos MSC show typical spindle-shaped morphology (see inset), while (b) after 10 passages in culture they proceed to senescence and fail to grow as monolayer; (c) mTERT-MSC preserve the ability to grow in a monolayer. Bar; 20 μm; (d, e) semiquantitative RT-PCR and FACS analyses showing that mTERT ectopic expression preserves typical Sca-1^pos MSC stem cell phenotype; (f) thorough characterization of mTERT-MSC phenotype; (g) comparison between mTERT-MSC and MSC multilineage potential in culture (Bars: 100 μm).