FIG. 3.

HCA and PCA of myogenic-related genes in MeGC/ColI-hydrogel-encapsulated BJ fibroblasts and FReP cells during myogenic differentiation in vitro. (A) HCA identified distinctive clusters of genes, suggesting encapsulated FReP cells presented a significantly higher expression of muscle-specific genes than encapsulated BJ fibroblasts. (B) PCA plot comparing with two principal components, PC1 and PC2, demonstrated the distinct differentiation path of BJ fibroblasts (blue dotted line) and FReP cells (black dotted line). The major contributors for PC1 (red dashed lines) and PC2 (green dashed line) were shown. Gene expression of major contributing genes of PC1 (C) and PC2 (D) was tracked during the 3-week cultivation, respectively. Data normalized to undifferentiated encapsulated BJ fibroblasts. N = 3; *p < 0.05; **p < 0.005. HCA, hierarchical clustering analysis; PCA, principal component analysis.