Figure 4

Comparative analysis of osteogenic differentiation capacity of MS-, ES, IT- and T-MPCs. (A) Osteogenesis was demonstrated by several dark red regions stained with Alizarin Red S, indicative of calcified extracellular matrix under osteogenic differentiation condition (original magnification 100×, scale bar = 50 μm). (B) In the analysis of alkaline phosphatase activity, optical densities were significantly higher in MS-, ES, IT- and T-MPCs groups than control group. However, there were no significant differences among any of the MPCs groups. Up-regulation of the expression of specific osteogenic genes, ALP (C) and OC (D), were evaluated by real-time qRT-PCR. Data are expressed as the mean ± SEM. *, †, ‡, ǁ, ¶, **, ‡‡, §§, ǁǁ P < 0.001, § P = 0.006, †† P = 0.042, ¶¶ P = 0.040. ALP, alkaline phosphate; ES, ethmoid sinus; IT, inferior turbinate; MPCs, mesenchymal progenitor cells; MS, maxillary sinus; OC, osteocalcin; T, tonsil.