Fig. 6.

Endothelial lineage differentiation of cultured human anulus fibrosus cells. Cells were incubated for up to seven days in Endothelial Cell Growth Medium MV 2, and then the expression of endothelial-specific genes was examined by immunofluorescent staining and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Cell morphology and immunofluorescent staining of CD31 and von Willebrand factor (vWF) (A). Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (B) and real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis of the levels of the mRNA for CD31 (C) and vWF (D) mRNA, with 18S rRNA as an internal control (Con). The expression of both genes was upregulated following induction in six samples. EM = endothelial media.