Fig. 4

Mitochondria transfer enhanced the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs in vitro. Gross images of alkaline phosphatase staining (a, c) and ALP activity levels (b, d) of mitochondria-recipient or control BMSCs at 4 days (a, b) or 7 days (c, d) after osteogenic induction (OI). Gross images and micrographs (e) of Alizarin Red staining of mitochondria-recipient or control BMSCs at 14 days after OI and their quantitative measurement of mineralization (f). The mRNA expression levels of Runx2 (g) and BMP2 (h) and their corresponding protein expression levels (m) in BMSCs of the different groups after 4 days of OI. The mRNA expression levels of Runx2 (i) and BMP2 (j) and their corresponding protein expression levels (n) in BMSCs of the different groups after 7 days of OI. The mRNA expression levels of Runx2 (k) and BMP2 (l) and their corresponding protein expression levels (o) in BMSCs of the different groups after 14 days of OI. Results are presented as the mean ± SEM (n = 3). One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test was used to determine statistical significance (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ****P ≤ 0.0001)