Figure 4.

Gene expression of expanded TDCs (p4) cultured in serum‐rich and serum‐free medium on random substrates for 7 days after the moment of sub‐confluency (day 0), compared to freshly isolated TDCs (fold change = 1). After 24 h, serum deprivation had a “rescuing” effect on phenotype marker genes (Tnmd, Tnc, Dcn, Acta2) in TDCs that were expanded in serum‐rich medium. Tendon‐specific phenotypic markers were almost restored to native levels in p4 TDCs after 7 days of serum deprivation, and this effect was counteracted by serum supplementation for 2 days. n = 2. TDCs, tendon‐derived cells [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]