Figure 3.
The changes of ALP activity in human skin-derived fibroblasts after repeated transfection. (a) Time-line for assessment of pluripotency-related gene expression in fibroblasts after repeated transfection. (b) Cytochemical evaluation of ALP activity in the fibroblasts after repeated transfection with the reprogramming factors. Fibroblasts were transfected with Yamanaka’s four reprogramming factors once or twice. The treated cells were subjected to cytochemical staining for ALP activity at 3, 5, 7, and 9 days after the final transfection, as shown in (a). Bar = 500 μm. (c) Ratio of ALP-positive cells and (d) proliferation curves for fibroblasts when the parental fibroblasts were subjected to transfection once or twice. After the final transfection, cells were seeded onto 4- or 24-well plate, and fixed (for cytochemical staining for ALP activity) or harvested (for counting the cell number) at the days indicated.