FIGURE 4.

VEGF induces hUCMSC differentiation into ECs in vitro. hUCMSCs induced by VEGF for 7 days; the VEGF-induced hUCMSCs (V-hUCMSCs) grew well, and the morphology was similar to that of hUCMSCs, except that they exhibited a long fusiform shape with abundant cytoplasm (A). The effects of VEGF on the expression levels of VEGFA, eNOs, vWF, and CD31 messenger RNA in hUCMSCs cultured for 7 days. The relative gene expression was normalized to the expression of GAPDH, and the control was set to 1.0. Values are expressed as the mean ± SD (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01) (B). Western blot assays showed that V-hUCMSCs expressed Ve-cadherin, CD31, and VEGFA, whereas the hUCMSCs did not express these proteins (C). Values are expressed as the mean ± SD (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01) (D). VEGF-induced hUCMSCs formed capillary-like structures (E).