Figure 6.

Blockade of ERK1/2 phosphorylation with U0126 reversed FLCM-induced hepatic differentiation of hUCMSCs. hUCMSCs were treated with FLCM in the presence or absence of U0126 (5 μM) for different times. A: Expression of hepatic-specific genes in hUCMSCs detected by RT-PCR. B: Urea production in the medium of hUCMSCs at 72 h. Data are expressed as mean + SD of three experiments. C: CYP3A4 gene expression and CYP3A4 activity at 12 days during FLCM or FLCM/U0126 treatment; D: Expression of hepatic-specific proteins AFP, ALB, CK-18 in hUCMSCs by immunocytochemistry. hUCMSCs cultured in DMEM were used as a control (a, d, g). hUCMSCs were treated with FLCM (b, e, h) and FLCM/U0126 (c, f, i) for 72 h (magnification × 200). E: ELISA assay of HGF concentration in DMEM and FLCM. HGF, hepatocyte growth factor. *P < 0.05. (A color version of this figure is available in the online journal.)