Effects of Serial Passage on the Characteristics and Cardiac and Neural Differentiation of Human Umbilical Cord Wharton’s Jelly-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Figure 2

SA-β-gal staining, percentage of senescent cells, and p21 gene expression in WJ MSCs (Wharton’s jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells) in the early, middle, and late phases. (a) SA-β-gal staining showed that there were few senescent cells in WJ MSCs in the early phase, (b) senescent cells were found in the middle phase, and (c) more senescent cells appeared in the late phase. Bar: 100 μm. (d) The percentage of senescent cells in WJ MSCs in the late phase was , significantly higher than in the early phase and in the middle phase (). (e) The gene expression of p21 was upregulated in WJ MSCs in the late phase, which was also significantly higher than that in the early and middle phases ().

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)