Fig. 1

a Micrographs of hLMSCs cultured in SM and Control medium, respectively. Cells grown in SM retained spindle-shaped morphology till passage P8, but cells grown in the control medium showed elongated fibroblastic morphology from P4. At P3, hLMSCs had spindle morphology in both the media. Magnification: × 10, Scale: 200 µM; b relative Population Doubling Time (PDT) of hLMSCs. hLMSCs cultured in SM displayed lower PDT than in the control medium. PDT was maintained till passage 8 in SM, which increased relatively in the control medium after passage 4. The data are represented as mean ± SD; c cumulative population doublings of hLMSCs in control and SM. SM showed comparatively more population doublings than the control medium; d bar graph representing total no. of viable cells at subsequent passages in control and SM medium; e percentage viability of hLMSCs cultured in SM and control medium was measured by MTT assay. SM cultures displayed cell viability similar to the control medium till 96 h and increased after that. The X and Y axes represent the time point and percentage cell viability, respectively. The percentage viability of cells in the control medium is taken as 100%. Data are expressed as mean ± SD in triplicates; n = 3; p < 0.01