FIG. 1.

Comparison of 20 human mesenchymal stromal/stem cell (MSC) donors for their chondrogenic potential based on histological appearance, mRNA expression, and glycosaminoglycan (GAG) deposition. (A) Alcian Blue stain for GAG of two representative donors of each group: high chondrogenic potential (a, b) to donors with moderate (c, d) and low chondrogenic potential (e, f). (B) Gene expression levels of the chondrogenic genes ACAN, COL2A1, and COL10A1 were assessed with quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis using mRNAs. Data represent the three donors in the high-performing group, nine donors in the moderate group, and eight donors in the low-performing group±standard deviation (SD) (*P≤0.05). (C) GAG levels as overview for all 20 donors: donors with high chondrogenic potential demonstrate distinct quantitative GAG levels compared to moderate and low performers. The average measure of three different pellets per donor±SD is illustrated. Color images available online at www.liebertpub.com/scd