hMSCs were cultured in _MEM supplemented with increasing levels of dexamethasone (dex) (low = 0.1 μM, med = 0.5 μM, high = 1 μM), resulting in (A) an increasing percentage of alkaline phosphatase-positive cells after 14 days in culture. For % ALP determination at least 1,000 cells were counted for each condition. (B) Under the same culture conditions, representative SC-35 images and (C) average signal intensity of SC-35 (bars in plot) and nuclei roundness (dots in plot) are unable to discern differences between the different treatment groups at 3 days. However, 3 day analysis using 26 Haralick descriptors is capable of discerning differences between increasing dex conditions, confirmed by (D) distinct cluster formation in PCA plot and (E) decision tree analysis, which shows that 93% of cells can be correctly classified using our approach. For descriptor analysis, at least 40 cells were analysed for each condition.