Fig. 3.

(A–D) In vitro maturation and stability of 3D macropellets derived from adult hMSC cultured in chondrogenic medium, either alone or supplemented compound A or B, and forced after 14 d of treatment toward hypertrophy. Samples were histologically analyzed for GAG, collagen type II, and collagen type X deposition and Alizarin red. All images were taken at the same magnification. (Scale bar, 300 μm.) Quantitative RT-PCR analyses on (E) COL2A1, (F) COL10A, (G) IHH, and (H) MMP13 confirmed the immunohistochemistry staining. All ΔΔCt values are normalized relative to GAPDH expression and refer to basal expression in day 0 hMSCs; all fold-changes in transcript levels are shown in logarithmic scale (n = 3, *P < 0.005, ***P < 0.001). Ctrl, control.