Figure 6.

CBSC-treated macrophages induce proliferation and inhibit activation and contraction of human fibroblasts. A: schematic of media generation for treatment of fibroblasts. B: representative images of human fibroblasts in culture treated with CBSC or control medium outlined in A; SB525334 was used as a TGF-β inhibitor and TGF-β was used as a positive control for fibroblast activation and α-SMA. Scale bar = 50 µm. Quantification of the number of nuclei (C) and the intensity of α-SMA (D) of the 60-min treatment group. E: quantification of the percent contraction from baseline of human fibroblasts cultured on collagen gels and treated with TGF-β; vehicle group received no TGF-β. ****P < 0.0001 CBSC vs. TGF-β, ####P < 0.0001 CBSC vs. TGF-β + control media. n = 5 for all groups. F: gene ontology enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of CBSC vs. M2c of terms including search term “fibroblast,” plotted with gene ratio and −log(adjusted P value); dotted line = −log(0.05) = 1.3 indicating cutoff for significance. n = 4 for gene ontology analysis. α-SMA, α-smooth muscle actin; CBSC, cortical bone stem cell; TGF-β, transforming growth factor-β.