Figure 4.

Determining the osteogenic capacity of ‘reserve’ cells. Photomicrographs and accompanying Alizarin red staining and quantification showed that ‘reserve’ cells cultured in the presence of osteogenic medium exhibited no (a) observable or (b) quantifiable differences in the formation of calcified nodules after 7 days and 14 days in culture. (c) quantitative real‐time reverse‐transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis identified a significantly (p < 0.05) higher expression of the master osteogenic regulator gene Runx2 in the ‘reserve’ cell population when compared with C2C12 controls after 3 days of culture. Bar: 100 μm. *p < 0.05; polymerase chain reaction and Alizarin red quantification data are represented as mean ± standard deviation (n = 3)