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. 2020 Nov 26;10:20596. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-77785-6

Figure 5.

Figure 5

Effects of potential contributing factors derived from AF or NP cells on HMEC-1 cells for expressing neurotrophic factors and markers of activated ECs. (A) Relative gene expression of VEGFR-2 (Flk-1/KDR receptor), NGF-β, BDNF, and PDGF-BB in HMEC-1 cells exposed to AFCM or NPCM. (B) Production of NGF-β and BDNF in HMEC-1 cells exposed to AFCM or NPCM. (C) Production of neurotrophins by AF or NP cells cultured in ECCM. (D) Relative gene expression of NGF-β and BDNF in AF or NP cells cultured in ECCM. Each value is the mean ± standard error of five independent experiments. Human AF and NP cells were isolated from the disc tissues of eleven patients and used at passage 2. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001 as compared with the control group (ctrECs or AFCM). #p < 0.05, ##p < 0.01, and ###p < 0.001 as compared with AFCM or NPCM. The line indicates comparison with each group. Ns no significant difference. ctrECs, ECs cultured in normal medium; AFCM, conditioned medium derived from human AF cells exposed to 10 ng/mL recombinant IL-1β; NPCM, conditioned medium derived from human NP cells exposed to 10 ng/mL recombinant IL-1β; ECCM, conditioned medium derived from ECs cultured in basal medium; AF or NP exposed to ECCM, human AF or NP cells cultured in ECCM derived from ECs cultured in normal medium.