Fig. 7. Multipotentiality of HMCs. (A,B) Undifferentiated growing HMCs were subjected to immunofluorescence analysis with antibodies to MyoD (A) or to Pax7 (B) and with Cy3-conjugated secondary antibodies. Both MyoD and Pax7 were present in the nuclei of all HMCs. (C,D) HMCs were cultured in pmDM for 6 days in the absence (C) or presence (D) of BMP2, and were then stained with Alizarin Red S for the detection of calcium deposition and examined by phase-contrast microscopy. Prominent myotubes developed in the culture shown in C. By contrast, myogenic differentiation was inhibited and calcium deposition was induced in the culture shown in D. Scale bars: 100 µm in A-D. (E) RT-PCR analysis of Runx2 expression in undifferentiated HMCs. Results are shown for two independent samples.
