Identification of cytokines involved in hepatic differentiation of mBM-MSCs under liver-injury conditions

Figure 4 Effects of FGF-4, HGF and OSM in hepatic differentiation. A number of depletion experiments using different combination of antibodies were conducted, and the expression of both liver-specific markers and function was analyzed. A-D: The expression of both the early liver-specific markers (HNF3β and AFP) 10 d after induction and the late liver-specific markers 20 d after induction (ALB and TAT) at mRNA levels detected by real-time PCR; E, F: The expression of AFP 10 d after induction and ALB 20 d after induction at protein levels detected by ELISA; G: Analysis of intracellular glycogen accumulation by PAS staining on day 20 after induction; H: Urea production by differentiated cells on day 20 after induction. MSC group: Control MSCs cultured in medium A with PBS; C group: MSCs induced with liver-injury conditioned medium with non-specific IgG; E1-E3 groups: MSCs induced with liver-injury conditioned medium and different concentrations of specific antibodies (E1: 1:500; E2: 1:200; E3:1:100). ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01 vs C group.