Fig 3. Proliferative potential of PB-ECFCs in FBS and PL medium.

For growth kinetics as well as cumulative population doubling determination experiments, cells were serially expanded by seeding 5000 cells/cm² in EGM-2 supplemented with either 10%FBS or 10%PL during period of 40 days. (A): Comparison of proliferative potential of PB-ECFCs maintained in FBS-EGM (open bar) or PL-EGM (closed bar) during 7 days. Results represent the mean ± SEM of counted number of cells relative to cm² of plating surface of 3 independent experiments of three different donors. *p < 0.05 by Student paired t test. (B): Total number of cells yielded during long-term expansion of PB-ECFCs in FBS-EGM (open symbol, n:3) or PL-EGM (closed symbols, n:3). Each symbol indicates total number of cells at each passaging step. (C): Cumulative population doubling levels (CPDL) of PB-ECFCs in PL-EGM (closed bars) or FBS-EGM (open bars) after 10, 20, and 40 days of expansion. Results represent the mean ± SEM of CPDL at three different time points of 3 independent experiments of 3 different donors. Two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc test.