Fig. 7.

Osteogenic gene expression of various MSC. The relative expression of osteogenic gene markers Runx2, ALP and OCN was assessed by qRT-PCR for unstimulated (unstim) and stimulated (stim) SCAP, DPSC, PDLSC, and JB-MSC. A Expression of Runx-2 after 1 week of osteogenic stimulation. B Expression of ALP after 3 weeks of osteogenic induction. C Expression of OCN after 5 weeks of osteogenic stimulation. Relative expression levels are shown with regard to control unstimulated samples (value = 1) and normalized against the reference gene RPL13a. Asterisk show the level of significance compared to each corresponding control (i.e. unstim vs stim); *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001, n.s., not significantly different. n = 3–6 from pooled RNA samples (originating from 3 donors per group). Mean values ± SD are indicated. Multiple comparisons between the stimulated groups (SCAP, DPSC, PDLSC, and JB-MSC) showed no significant differences for the expression of Runx2 except for PDLSC vs. JB-MSC, where a weak significance was seen (p = 0.02). Regarding ALP expression in the stimulated groups, SCAP showed a significantly higher expression (p < 0.001) than all the other stimulated groups. There were no significant differences in expression between the other groups. The expression of OCN was significantly higher for stimulated PDLSC vs. stimulated JB-MSC (p = 0.009), but no significances in expression of OCN were seen between any of the other stimulated groups