Figure 1

Spongiosa and aspirate hMSCs cultures. (A) Spongiosa and aspirate hMSCs were cultured in stem cell medium alone (undifferentiated) or in culture medium supplemented with stimuli inducing osteogenic differentiation (osteogenic) and adipogenic differentiation (adipogenic), respectively. In both, spongiosa hMSCs and aspirate hMSCs, mineralization nodules formation confirmed osteogenic differentiation and adipogenic differentiation was confirmed by lipid vacuols. (B) Figure shows the photographs of the 3-D hMSCs cultures in differentiation cocktail on two different time points as well as 2-D cultures on starting point of the experiment (day 0). Day 6: spongiosa and aspirate hMSCs cultured on nonadhesive Petri plastic dishes on the day 6 by the method of hanging drops in differentiation cocktail. Day 18: the same cells transferred onto tissue culture plastic; the spongiosa hMSCs culture almost reached 100% confluence while aspirate hMSCs still keep together in the form of bodies and almost do not proliferate. (C) PCR from undifferentiated aspirate and spongiosa hMSCs and human adult heart tissue demonstrating the expression of Nkx2.5, MEF2A, and MEF2D genes in undifferentiated aspirate hMSCs and MEF2A and MYH7B in untreated spongiosa hMSCs. The expression of MEF2A and MEF2D genes wasn't revealed and ANP gene expression was negligible in adult human heart tissue (the band marked with black star).