FIG. 2.

RAR and RXR agonists reduce the proliferation and stemness character of P19-MLC2v-GFP cells. (A) Cell proliferation. Cell monolayers were treated for 48 h with no inducer (NI) or with the indicated retinoid, and stained with crystal violet. Absorbance values are expressed as the means±SEM of three independent studies. (B) Cell stemness. Cells were subjected to the mesodermal protocol in the absence (NI) or presence of the indicated retinoid inducer from D2 to D3, and analyzed for Oct3/4 expression at D3. Cells were also collected at D0 (undifferentiated cells) and at D2 (before retinoid treatment) for comparison. An immunoblot specimen and the densitograms (means±SEM) obtained from three independent cell series. Oct3/4 signal was normalized to tubulin and reported relatively to the corresponding NI-D3 condition. The inducer treatment was significantly different from the NI-D3 condition (*), and the retinoid treatment was significantly different from the atRA reference treatment (#) (P<0.05).