Figure 3. EMD increases osteoblast mRNA and protein levels of connexin 43 and N-cadherin.

After 2, 3, 5, 7 and 10 days post seeding, mRNA was extracted and realtime PCR was performed using specific primers for connexin 43 (A) and N-cadherin (B). When samples were pre-coated with EMD, up to 4 fold increases in gene expression were observed for connexin 43 at 2, 3 and 5 days post seeding (A). 3 fold increases in gene expression of N-cadherin were also observed (B). Additional samples were extracted for western blot analysis (C). Elevated levels of both connexin 43 and N-cadherin were observed at 2, 3, 5 and 7 days post seeding. * denotes significant difference between EMD treated sample and respective control sample (p<0.05). Data shown is the average value from 3 independent experiments (3 replicates per experiment) ± SE.