Fig. 4

The knockdown of STAT3 partially reduced the effect of catalpol on BMSC osteogenesis. Successful transfection was demonstrated via a fluorescence microscope and b, c western blot analysis. BMSC osteogenic differentiation was evaluated by d, e ALP staining and f, g ARS staining. h, i western blot analysis of osteogenic-specific genes. The data are presented as means ± SEM. All experiments were repeated at least 3 times independently. ^**p < 0.01 vs. control group, ^##p < 0.01 vs. STAT3-vehicle group