Intracellular Calcium Determines the Adipogenic Differentiation Potential of Human Umbilical Cord Blood-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells via the Wnt5a/β-Catenin Signaling Pathway

Figure 5

Effect of Ca²⁺ on the adipogenic differentiation of MSCs-L. Cells were treated with Ca²⁺ and then cultured in adipogenic-specific medium. Adipogenic differentiation potential was monitored at day 3, day 7, day 10, and day 14, respectively. (a) Cells were stained with Oil red O, and the percentage of Oil red O-positive cells is shown (scale bar = 50 μm, mean ± SD, , ). (b) Time course of protein expression of Wnt5a, β-catenin, and p-GSK3β in the Wnt5a/β-catenin signaling pathway and of PPARγ and leptin in the adipogenic signaling pathway determined by Western blot analysis, with β-actin serving as a loading control. Expression levels were normalized to β-actin, with the expression levels in the control defined as 1 (lower panel, mean ± SD, , , ).

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