Figure 2.

Hypoxic preconditioning enhances VEGF secretion from rBM-MSC sheets. A. Rabbit BM-MSC sheets were cultivated under hypoxic conditions (2% oxygen) for 24, 48, and 72 h and the concentration of VEGF in the conditioned medium was measured by ELISA; *p < 0.05. MSC sheets secreted the highest level of VEGF under hypoxic culture conditions (2% oxygen) at 48 h. (n = 5 for each groups). B. Hypoxic preconditioning does not cause an apoptotic response in rBM-MSC sheets; cleaved Caspase 7 was undetectable in cultured rBM-MSC sheets. C. No significant differences in the number of TUNEL-positive cells were observed between normoxic and hypoxic conditions. The arrowhead indicates the TUNEL-positive cell; scale bar = 50 μm. (n = 4 for each).