Fig 4.

Characteristics of the multidifferentiation potential of dental follicle cells (DFCs) and stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHEDs). Oil red O staining of lipid clusters in SHEDs and DFCs after culture under adipogenic conditions (A a and b). Real-time PCR was also used to detect the expression of relative quantification to adipogenic genes before and after induction (B). Mineralized nodules were observed in both groups after 21 days of osteogenic induction (A c and d). Both the numbers of mineralized nodules and the expression of relative quantification to osteogenic genes were higher in DFCs than in the SHED group (C). Positive staining for the neurogenic maker nestin was observed 4 h after neural induction in SHEDs and DFCs (A e and f), but SHEDs expressed more GFAP, βIII-tubulin and nestin than DFCs (D). Scale bars =100 μm, * p<0.05 and ** p<0.01.