The Effect of Hypoxia on the Stemness and Differentiation Capacity of PDLC and DPC

Figure 4

Effect of hypoxia on the osteogenic, chondrogenic, and adipogenic differentiation of PDLCs and DPCs. PDLCs and DPCs that have been osteogenically induced under hypoxic conditions ((b) and (d)) display strong Alizarin red S staining compared to those cultured in normoxia ((a) and (c)). Chondrogenically differentiated PDLCs and DPCs ((f) and (h)) showed higher Safranin O staining intensity when cultured in hypoxia. A larger number of lipid droplets were observed in PDLCs and DPCs after exposure to hypoxia ((j) and (l)) than those cultured in normoxia ((i) and (k)). Bar = 50 𝜇m. The mRNA expression of Runx2, Sox9, and PPAR𝛾2 in PDLCs and DPCs increased after differentiation towards different lineages under hypoxic conditions ((m), (n), and (o)).