FIG. 7.

Synergistic effect of SMAD3 knockdown and RUNX2 overexpression for osteogenesis. (A–D) Von Kossa staining with nuclear red counterstain of scaffold pairs cultured in 5 ng/mL TGFβ3. (A) NT and scrambled shRNA; (B) NT and SMAD3 shRNA; (C) NT and scrambled shRNA with RUNX2; (D) NT and SMAD3 shRNA with RUNX2. Square brackets indicate scaffold pairs cultured in the same well. No mineral staining was observed except for the SMAD3 shRNA with RUNX2-transduced groups (brown). Scale bar = 100 μm. (E) Alkaline phosphatase activity quantification, n = 4–5. Points represent independent specimen. Bars represent geometric means for each group. Red dots represent scaffolds seeded with NT cells; orange squares represent scaffolds seeded with virally transduced cells. Two-tailed paired t tests for scaffold pairs in the same group (α = 0.05). Color images available online at www.liebertpub.com/tea