Direct Cell-Cell Contact between Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Endothelial Progenitor Cells Induces a Pericyte-Like Phenotype In Vitro

Figure 4

Gene regulation in MSCs and EPCs after 3 days of culture in IMDM-PL. Pericyte marker genes CD146 ((a), (f)), NG2 ((b), (g)), αSMA ((c), (h)), and PDGFR-β ((d), (i)) and endothelial marker gene PECAM-1 ((e), (j)) were detected in MSCs and EPCs after 3 days in transwell culture, direct coculture, and single culture in IMDM-PL (IMDM supplemented with 5% FCS and 5% PL). Results are presented for each gene as relative change in gene expression (2^−ΔΔCt) over time between day 0 and day 3 in 5 independent experiments (donor 1–5) and as average ± error of the mean of all experiments.