Figure 4.
Vascular smooth muscle cell differentiation of mSSCs. (A) mRNA profiles of VSMC-specific genes, myocardin and α-SMA, in mSSCs and ESCs during in vitro vascular differentiation. The mRNA level was measured using real-time RT-PCR and normalized as its relative ratio to GAPDH. The mRNA levels were expressed relative to the corresponding mRNA level at day 0 (undifferentiated mSSCs and ESCs; set as 1). The data were obtained from 3 independent preparations and are expressed as mean ± SEM. (B) Representative images showing the expression of SM22α and α-SMA proteins in differentiated cells from mSSCs and ESCs. On 14th day of in vitro vascular differentiation, cells were immunostained with anti-SM22α (green), anti-α-SMA (red), or nonspecific control IgGs. VSMCs were included as a positive control. Scale bar is 50 µm. Nuclei were stained with DAPI.