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Fig. 3 | Stem Cell Research & Therapy

Fig. 3

From: Metformin combats high glucose-induced damage to the osteogenic differentiation of human periodontal ligament stem cells via inhibition of the NPR3-mediated MAPK pathway

Fig. 3

Screening and identification of osteogenesis-related genes mediating metformin-enhanced osteogenic differentiation under high glucose. A Venn diagram showing the number of differentially expressed genes in PDLSCs when they were cultured in normal (CON), high glucose (HG) or high glucose with metformin addition (HG + MET) following a 14-day osteogenic induction. B Heatmap showing all the differentially expressed genes in PDLSCs when they were cultured in normal (CON), high glucose (HG) or high glucose with metformin addition (HG + MET) following a 14-day osteogenic induction. The color key (from purple to red) of Z-score value (− 1.95 to 2.77) indicated low to high expression levels. C Heatmap showing the osteogenesis-related genes in PDLSCs when they were cultured in normal (CON), high glucose (HG) or high glucose with metformin addition (HG + MET) following a 14-day osteogenic induction. The color key (from purple to red) of Z-score value (− 1.24 to 2.08) indicated low to high expression levels. D The statistical analysis of expressed levels of osteogenesis-related genes (AREG, IGFBP5, GPR68, SFRP2 and NPR3) in PDLSCs when they were cultured in normal, high glucose or high glucose with metformin addition following a 14-day osteogenic induction (mRNA expression levels detected by qRT-PCR). E Protein expression of SFRP2 and NPR3 in PDLSCs when they were cultured in normal, high glucose or high glucose with metformin addition following a 14-day osteogenic induction (protein expression levels detected by Western blot analysis). The displayed bands were cropped from the corresponding original blots. HG, high glucose. Met, metformin. Experiments for P4 cells from three different donors were repeated independently for at least 3 times, and data are presented as the means ± SD (n = 3). p value was based on one-way analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001 represent significant differences between the indicated columns, while NS represents no significant difference

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