Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein-6 Alters Skeletal Muscle Differentiation of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Figure 1

PMSCs cultured under muscle differentiation conditions showed muscle morphology with lower OCT4 and higher MHC at 14 days postdifferentiation. (a, b) Compared to cells cultured under standard conditions in 10% FBS, PMSCs grown in muscle differentiation media showed skeletal muscle morphology as early as day 1 postdifferentiation (20x). (c, d) At 14 days postdifferentiation, PMSCs grown in muscle differentiation media showed increased skeletal muscle fiber compaction and the formation of multinucleated fibers (20x). 40x magnification is shown in the bottom right corner. Red arrows indicate multinucleated muscle cells. (e–h) Cells grown in muscle differentiation media showed less OCT4 (green-Alexa 488, λ-488 nm) (20x) and more MHC immunoreactivity (red-Alexa 568, λ-568 nm), when compared to PMSCs in 10% FBS at 14 days postdifferentiation (10x). Nuclei were stained with Hoechst dye (blue, ). Experiment was performed in triplicate.