Figure 10. Deposition of mineralized bone matrix is optimal when BMP2 and canonical Wnt signaling are balanced.
(a,b) Primary periosteal cells isolated from 4 week-old Bmp2F/F and Bmp2F/F; Prx1-Cre mice were analyzed by QPCR in three repeat experiments. Fold change mRNA is reported as mean ±s.d. compared by two-tailed student’s t-test where p*<0.001 vs. Bmp2F/F cells. Bmp4 expression was at the limit of detection. Primary BMSC were differentiated in osteogenic medium (OM) plus recombinant growth factors. (c) Calcified matrix was assessed on day 10 by alizarin red staining (2.5X, brightfield). Cultures were performed in duplicate using pooled cell populations from n = 2 Bmp2F/F or n = 4 Bmp2F/F; Prx1-Cre mice. (d) Quantification of alizarin red in (c). Error bars represent distribution of two independent experiments. (e) Primary BMSC cells from n = 3 Bmp2F/F and n = 4 Bmp2F/F; Prx1-Cre mice were differentiated as non-pooled cultures in OM plus recombinant growth factors as indicated. QPCR analysis on day three was reported as mean ±s.d. compared by two-tailed student’s t-test where P*<0.001 vs. Bmp2F/F cells in OM; P#<0.001 vs. Bmp2F/F; Prx1-Cre cells in OM; n = number of independent cultures per condition.