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. 2015 Dec 31;10(12):e0146124. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0146124

Fig 4. Constitutively active (ca) caALK5 and caALK1 receptors do not induce BMSC chondrogenesis as efficiently as TGFβ does.

Fig 4

Human fetal BMSCs (donor F1) transduced with adenoviral caALK5, caALK1 or LacZ as control were pellet-cultured in chondrogenic medium for 7 days. Only LacZ-transduced pellets were exposed to TGFβ to compare if either caALK5 or caALK1 induced chondrogenesis as efficiently as induced by TGFβ. Chondrogenesis was evaluated by cartilage-specific gene expression analysis of ACAN (A) and COL2A1 (B) and by staining proteoglycans with Safranin O/Fast Green (C; upper panel) and collagen type II with immunohistochemistry (C; lower panel). Representative images of consecutive pellet sections per condition are shown and the scale bar represents 500 μm. Gene expression was normalized to reference gene RPS27a and data are expressed as % relative to normalized gene levels in LacZ-transduced pellets stimulated with TGFβ. Bars represent mean ± SD from quadruplet pellets of 1 representative experiment (out of 3), ***p<0.001.