Fig. 5

Effect of Mfn2 on chondrogenic differentiation of CPSCs. A Relative mRNA expression of chondrogenic genes (Sox-9, Col2, and Acan) with or without chondrogenic induction medium for 14 days. B, C The expression of chondrogenic proteins (SOX-9, Col2, and Acan) with or without chondrogenic induction medium for 14 days and quantitative analysis. D–G Safranin O and Alcian blue staining of chondrogenic differentiation in plate or pellet culture with chondrogenic medium for 21 days. H Relative expression of Col2 (red) determined by immunofluorescence on 21 days of chondrogenesis. GFP (green), DAPI (blue). Bar = 200 µM. The data are expressed as mean ± standard deviation, N = 3. *P less than 0.05 versus OE-NC. OE over-expression of Mfn2, OE-NC negative control group of Mfn2 over-expression