Fig. 1

MSC characterization in accordance to International Society for Cellular Therapy. a Adipogenic, osteogenic, and chondrogenic differentiation of MSC, as comparisons between cells cultured in the presence of appropriate differentiation factors and normal culture medium (non-differentiating factors). Exception is chondrogenic differentiation, for which no pellet was formed in the absence of chondrocyte-specific differentiation medium. b–d Representative fields of differentiated MSC by Oil red (b), von Kossa (c), and Alcian Blue (d) staining, demonstrating the capacity of MSC to generate adipocytes (b), osteoblasts (c), and chondroblasts (d), respectively, when cultured in appropriate differentiation media for three weeks. e Phenotypic characterization of MSC by flow cytometry, illustrating the lack of CD45 expression and the expression of Sca-1, CD29, CD105, and CD90