Fibroblast Growth Factor-2 Primes Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Enhanced Chondrogenesis
Figure 3
FGF-2 enhances hMSC CG through both selection- and priming-based mechanisms.
Human MSCs were expanded for 2 passages in medium supplemented with FGF-2 for varying durations of time and assayed for cartilage-specific gene expression in pellet culture up to 21 days using real-time RT-PCR. Longer durations of FGF-2 exposure during hMSC expansion resulted in the significant upregulation of L-Sox5 and Col II gene expression, while exposure to FGF-2 for just 2 hours resulted in the significant upregulation of Sox9 and AGN by Day 21. All values were normalized to GAPDH expression and compared to the non-FGF-2-expanded control at Day 7. Values are represented as mean ± SD. *p<0.05, **p<0.005, n = 3.
