Fig. 3

Tenocytes differentiated from L-PRP- or P-PRP-treated tendon stem/progenitor cells are active. Immunostaining for α-SMA (a-c), which is a marker of active tenocytes. PRP treatment increased the expression of α-SMA (pink/red stain) with higher staining after P-PRP treatment than with L-PRP. Nuclei are stained blue with Hoechst 33342. Western blot analysis (d). An intensely stained α-SMA protein band after PRP treatment validated increased α-SMA protein level albeit P-PRP induced more α-SMA production than L-PRP. Semi-quantification of the Western blots by ImageJ (e). At least three independent experiments were performed for each analysis. A t test was used to perform statistical analysis. Significant differences (P < 0.05) between each treatment and the control are indicated by asterisks. The pound sign indicates significant differences between L-PRP and P-PRP treatments. All analyses were performed after 14 days in culture. Bars = 200 μm. α-SMA alpha-smooth muscle actin, L-PRP leukocyte-platelet-rich plasma, P-PRP pure-platelet-rich plasma