Figure 8.

Pilot investigation of the mRNA levels of collagen I-binding integrins in hMSC derived from younger healthy (n=3), older healthy (hMSC OH, n=3) and older osteoporotic patients (hMSC OP, n=6). For donor information refer to Supplementary Table 1. (a) Quantitative RT-PCR showed an upregulation of α2 and α11 integrins during aging (young hMSC versus hMSC OH; n=9; ^*P<0.05; ^**P<0.01; unpaired t-test for each α-integrin subunit). (b) Comparison between hMSC OH and hMSC OP revealed that integrin α2 was significantly downregulated in hMSC OP (n=15; ^**P<0.01; unpaired t-test for each α-integrin subunit). (c) JC-1 staining demonstrated in hMSC OP a prominent number of cells with mitochondrial permeabilization (green-labeled cells) in contrast to control hMSC, which had mostly intact mitochondria (red-labeled cells). Photomicrographs represent three different hMSC OP donors