Figure 2. Gene expression in hESC-derived cells evaluated by qRT-PCR.

Gene expression in each experimental group was normalized by the corresponding gene expression observed in hVSMCs. Oct-4 was normalized by the expression in undifferentiated hESCs. (A) Gene expression of hESCs, CD34⁺ and CD34⁻ cells before differentiation. SMα-22 expression in CD34⁻ cells is very low (<8.5×10⁻⁶) and not visible in the graph. CD34⁺ (B), CD34⁺KDR⁻ (C), and CD34⁻ (D) cells were cultured in SMGM-2 medium, EGM-2 medium, and EGM-2 medium supplemented with PDGF_BB or TGF_β-1 or RA or TGF_β-1 plus PDGF_BB. Cells were characterized at passage 4 (≈20 days). Results are Mean ± SEM (n = 4); * denotes statistical significance (P<0.05).