Figure 4

Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell (ASC) incorporation and secretory function following hydrogel bioscaffold seeding. (A) Wild-type (WT) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) ASCs at day 3 and 14 after hydrogel seeding. WT cells showed a uniform incorporation within the hydrogel and developed cell elongations and cytoplasmic extensions indicative of interactions with the bioscaffold (gray arrowhead). DM2 ASCs displayed a clumped distribution with rounded cell morphology (white arrowheads). (B) Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and protein array (C) quantifying the relative expression of selected genes associated with vasculogenenesis and tissue remodeling in hydrogel-seeded WT versus DM2 ASCs. Scale bar = 50 μm. *P ≤ 0.05, **P <0.01. Angpt-1, angiopoietin 1; Eng, endoglin; Hgf, hepatocyte growth factor; Mmp-3, matrix metalloproteinase 3; Mmp-9, matrix metalloproteinase 9; Sdf-1, Stromal Cell-Derived Factor 1; Vegf, vascular endothelial cell growth factor.