Proliferation and tenogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in a porous collagen sponge scaffold

Figure 4 Effect of transforming growth factor β1 (10 ng/mL), insulin-like growth factor 1 (10 ng/mL), growth differentiation factor 7 (100 ng/mL), and transforming growth factor β1 or insulin-like growth factor 1 (both at 10 ng/mL) on collagen synthesis in the bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in the 2D and 3D cultures. A: Morphologic appearance of the bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) in culture supplemented with various growth factors at day 3; B: Sirius Red staining for collagen deposition evaluation in the BMSCs cultured in the absence of growth factor (control) or the presence of growth factors at day 3. Scale bars = 200 μm; C: Masson’s trichrome staining of sectioned BMSC-collagen sponge constructs after growth factor stimulation for 3 d. Bars = 200 μm. TGF-β1: Transforming growth factor β1; IGF-1: Insulin-like growth factor 1; GDF-7: Growth differentiation factor 7.