Figure 3.

Proliferation profile of tenocytes following co-culture with MSCs or pio-MSCs under an indirect co-culture system. (a) Schematic model of the co-culture system of tenocytes with MSCs or pio-MSCs using transwell inserts with a 0.4-μm porous membrane to separate the cells. Each cell type was grown independently on the transwell plates. (b) Tenocyte proliferation analysis using an MTT assay. After 48 h in co-culture with MSCs or pio-MSCs, tenocytes were harvested and their proliferation was calculated and normalized against a tenocyte monoculture (tenocyte only). (c) At 48 h co-culturing with MSCs or pio-MSCs, the percentage of tenocytes in each phase of the cell cycle was measured by flow cytometry. All data are expressed as a mean ± standard error (SE) from three replicate experiments. * p < 0.05.