Fig. 4.

Ascorbic acid improves stem cell dysfunctions of VS-ASCs. a Proliferation assay using a methylene blue staining method each in triplicates in S17 SC- and VS-ASCs with and without 50 μM ascorbic acid (AA) treatment at various time points as indicated. Statistical significance was calculated by ANOVA. *p < 0.05 when compared to SC-C; ^p < 0.05 when compared to VS-C. b Representative images (× 10) showing migration assay by the scratch test for S17 SC-ASCs 16 h post AA treatment. Scale bar represents 100 μm. c Graph showing average hours taken for migration from S8, S14, and S17 SC- and VS-ASCs with and without AA treatment in the scratch test (n = 3). *p < 0.05 when compared to VS-C. d Representative images (× 10) showing senescence test using β-galactosidase in S8 SC- and VS-ASCs with and without AA treatment. e Quantification of the average percentage of cells exhibiting positive β-galactosidase staining from S18 and S19 SC- and VS-ASCs with and without AA treatment (n = 2). **p < 0.01 when compared to VS-C