Fig. 1. Immunological and functional characterization of undifferentiated rSCs. FACS demonstrates that the cells are negative for CD11b (A) and CD45 (B), two lymphohematopoietic surface markers. Immunofluorescent labelling shows that rSCs are positive for Thy1.1 (C) and p75 NGF receptor (D). Adipocyte induction was revealed by accumulation of lipid vacuoles that were stained with Oil Red O (E). Chondrocytes were obtained by culturing rSCs as a pellet for 20 days in chondrocytic induction medium. Sections of the paraffin-embedded cells were stained with toluidine blue. The formation of cartilaginous structures is characterized by differentiated chondrocytes in lacunae surrounded by extracellular matrix (F). When rSCs were placed in osteocyte induction medium, cells formed nodules (G) with multi-layered regions, and a significant increase in alkaline phosphatase was observed (H). Enzyme activity of the cells was measured in triplicate cultures with the alkaline phosphatase colorimetric test. In this test, the variation of the absorbency was measured as a function of time at 405 nm. Scale bars: (C-E) 40 µm; (F,G) 150 µm.

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