Figure 5: Effect of ER stress on megakaryocytes derived from CD34⁺ cells from healthy donors.

(A) Representative microscopic images of the CD34⁺ cells isolated from the peripheral blood of healthy donors over the 15-day culture period at 20X magnification. The ER stressor, thapsigargin (125nM) was added to the culture at day 7 and cultured for another 7 days. (B) RNA expression: cell culture from thapsigargin-treated CD34⁺ derived megakaryocytes (n=7). (C) (i) Western blot of the thapsigargin-treated CD34⁺ cells derived megakaryocytes (n=3 in triplicate) and (ii) densitometry for the blots. Densitometry was performed using the ImageJ software (****p<0.0001,**p<0.01 when compared with untreated controls).