Figure 3. Mesenchymal multipotent progenitor cells have the capacity to differentiate into several lineages including chondrocytes (orange), osteoblasts (blue) and adipocytes (green), as well as myoblasts, tenocytes, stromal cells and endothelial cells (not shown).

The differentiation processes as well as markers found at each stage and select signaling pathways are shown. The dashed red box indicates the timepoint of chondrogenic condensation, which is presaged by Notch expression and initiated by Msx-1,2 (and whose expression continues in the condensation phase) [Hall and Miyake 1995]. Data points plotted after [Pittenger et al. 1999, Kronenberg 2003, Nakashima and de Crombrugghe 2003, Shum and Nuckolls 2002, Day et al. 2005, Rosen and MacDougald 2006].