Figure 5.

All-trans retinoic acid (AT-RA) treatment decreased the maturation of bone mesenchymal dendritic cells (BMDCs) in vitro. The BMDCs were isolated and cultured in the presence or absence of AT-RA. DMSO used to dissolve AT-RA was used as the diluent control in the untreated group. (a) Phycoerythrin-conjugated anti-CD11c was used to verify the BMDCs subset. Left panel, dot plots show the gating strategy of BMDCs subset. Figure of isotype control antibodies was shown in the middle panel. The percentages of CD11c^high cells and mean fluorescence intensity were shown on the right histogram. Purity of BMDCs was > 80% in our culture system. (b) Analysis of different cell surface markers was performed in the population of CD11c^high cells by flow cytomety using the following antibodies: FITC-conjugated anti-CD80, Peridinin chlorophyll protein-conjugated anti-MHC-class II, and allophycocyanin-conjugated anti-CD86. Data are expressed as the mean ± SE of at least four independent experiments. **P < 0·01, ***P < 0·001.