Fig. 3

Psoralen rescued the stemness of irradiated SSCs. In a and b, the data of immunofluorescence staining showed that psoralen partially restored radiation-induced reduction of in situ CD105⁺, CD200⁺, and CD105⁺CD200⁺ cells. The CCK-8 data showed that that psoralen enhanced the proliferation of SSCs and irradiated SSCs in a dose-dependent manner. (c and d). The CFU-F assay data showed that psoralen significantly promoted colony formation in both the SSC and irradiated SSC groups (Additional file 3: Fig. S3a, Fig. 3e and f). The results of ALP staining and von Kossa staining demonstrated that psoralen partially rescued the impaired osteogenic capacity post-irradiation (Additional file 3: Fig. S3b, Fig. 3g). The expression of self-renewal-related genes, including Sox2 and Oct-4, as well as osteogenesis-related genes, including Runx2, Sp7 and OCN, in irradiated SSCs was partially restored with the addition of psoralen (Additional file 3: Fig. S3c and d, Fig. 3h and i). All data are shown as the mean ± SD. **P < 0.01, *P < 0.05. The scale bars represent 2 mm (a), 5 mm (e), and 200 μm (g), respectively. CFU-F: colony-forming unit-fibroblast; SSC: skeletal stem cell; IR: irradiation; and Pso: psoralen