Figure 3

Screening candidate effector factors in human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hAd-MSCs)-conditioned medium (CM). A) Cytokine microarray to determine the soluble cytokines present in blank medium, Wi38-CM and MSC-CM. Cytokines of MSC-CM/Wi38-CM >10: basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) (3,381-fold), epithelial growth factor (EGF) (117-fold), insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP)-1 (45-fold) and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) (30-fold). The data were normalized to the respective positive controls. B) The concentration of EGF in CM was determined by ELISA. MSC-CM: 3.81 ± 0.18 ng/ml; Wi38-CM: 29 ± 1.1 pg/ml. *P <0.05 Wi38-CM or MSC-CM versus blank medium; #P <0.05, MSC-CM versus Wi38-CM. C) AnnexinV/PI double staining labeled cells in each group (n = 3 per group) and flow cytometry to determine the podocytic apoptosis rate. Growth factor (EGF) significantly reduced podocytic apoptosis,but other factors (IGFBP, GDNF, PIGF) did not. PI, propidium iodide.