Fig. 1
From: Cell number in mesenchymal stem cell aggregates dictates cell stiffness and chondrogenesis
Initial cell number during aggregation regulates chondrogenic differentiation of human bone marrow-derived MSCs. Alcian Blue staining of pellet sections grown in the absence a and presence b of TGF-β1 after 7 and 21 days of differentiation. The insets show the low magnification image. c Bern score associated with each MSC aggregates differentiated in the presence and absence of TGF-β1 at different time points determined from Alcian Blue staining of pellets. Statistical analysis is based on a one-way ANOVA tool of OriginPro. Error bar represents standard deviation, and different aggregates in one group are compared to 70 k in the same group (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001). d Macroscopic images of pellets in the presence and absence of TGF-β1