Research Article

Use of Limiting Dilution Method for Isolation of Nucleus Pulposus Mesenchymal Stem/Progenitor Cells and Effects of Plating Density on Biological Characteristics and Plasticity

Figure 11

Chondrogenic potentials of NPMSCs from the three density groups. (a) During chondrogenesis, an increase in the pellet size was noted. (b) Chondrogenic differentiation was evaluated following alcian blue staining (200x). All cell pellets exhibited a degree of alcian blue staining, but the most abundant and intense staining was seen in the LD group. (c) A semiquantitative assay of proteoglycan deposits that further confirmed the histological appearances. All samples examined in triplicate. The data are displayed as a mean ± SD, with deemed significant.
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