Fig. 4

Assessment of in vitro chondrogenic differentiation of pMSCs. a Histological staining (Alcian blue/Nuclear Fast Red) of pellets derived from pMSCs of different tissue sources cultured in chondrogenic media after 21 days in culture (50 × magnification). b Quantification of chondrogenic differentiation by calculating the levels of glycosaminoglycans (GAG) secreted by cells under chondrogenic differentiation conditions, normalized to the cell density in the pellets (DNA) after 21 days in culture. Data presented as mean ± SD (n = 3 biological replicate with three pellets per replicate). *p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01 c–e Fold change in gene expression profiling of chondrogenic genes, SOX9 (c) Aggrecan (d) and collagen II (E) in pMSCs cultured in chondrogenic media (CM) vs growth media (GM) for 7 days. β-Actin was used for normalization of gene expression. Data presented as mean ± SEM (n = 3; *p < 0.05)