Figure 2

Semi-quantitative evaluation of expression of osteoblast-related genes in MSC treated or not with DAG for 7, 14 and 21 days. Gene expressions were divided into 3 groups. A: a gene whose expression was downregulated by DAG exposure, B: 4 genes whose expressions did not change under treatment, and C: 6 genes whose expressions were upregulated by treatment. A, B, C: Total RNA was isolated from MSC and subjected to semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis using specific primers for osteoblast gene markers and β-actin (see Table 1). Amplified products were separated by electrophoresis, quantified by densitometry and results were corrected by comparison with the housekeeping gene. Data are presented as mean ± SEM from 5 independent experiments performed in duplicate; * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01 and *** p < 0.001 versus the corresponding gene expression at time 0.