Fig. 3

MiR-21 improves osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs isolated from senile osteoporotic SAM/P6 mice. A The representative images of BMSCs isolated from BALB/c and SAM/P6 mice cultured under osteogenic conditions. The images were taken using an inverted light microscope under 100-fold magnification and the scale bar is equal 200 µm. The staining signals of visualised calcium deposits were presented as a bar graph (C). B The representative images (z-stacks) of cells’ nuclei, actin cytoskeleton and RUNX-2 protein in BMSCs isolated from BALB/c and SAM/P6 mice. The confocal microscope photographs were taken under 630-fold magnification and the scale bar is equal to 40 µm. The staining intensity of RUNX-2 protein was presented as a bar graph (D). The RT-qPCR technique was used to present the gene expression of E Runx-2, F Coll-1, G Alpl, H Bmp-2, I Opn, J Opg and K Ocl. The RT-qPCR measurements were performed using RQMAX method and presented in a log scale. L The gating procedure of BMSCs isolated from BALB/c and SAM/P6 mice. M The histograms presenting the positively stained population of cells (red line) for RUNX-2 protein. Each measurement was performed for 1000 events. Significant differences between groups are indicated with asterisk: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. Non-significant differences are marked as ns