Figure 1.

Effects of mechanical stretch on cell morphology and proliferation of BM-MSCs. Cells were subjected to cyclic stretch for 3 days (2 h per day) at the magnitudes of 2.5%, 5%, and 10%. Cells cultured under static conditions served as the control (CTRL). (A) Cell cytoskeleton F-actin was labeled by rhodamine phalloidin. Longitudinal stretch induced BM-MSCs toward a slender and spindle-like cell shape. Scale bar = 100 μm. (B) Cell proliferation was quantified at days 1, 3, 5, 7. Data are presented as the mean ± S.E.M. of four independent experiments (n = 4). Statistically significant differences are indicated by * p < 0.05 between the indicated groups.