Fig. 1

Inflammatory cytokines compromise the cementogenesis of PDLSCs. The cells were incubated in normal α-MEM (Nor), medium with the inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-1β (Infla), medium with the cementoblastic inducer EMD (EMD), or medium with both inflammatory cytokines and EMD (Infla-EMD). a Relative cementoblastic differentiation-related gene expression levels of BSP, CAP and CEMP-1 determined by qRT-PCR. b Relative cementoblastic differentiation-related protein expression of BSP, CAP and CEMP-1 determined by Western blots. c Semiquantitative analysis of protein expression levels (normalized to β-actin) in terms of relative gray density. d ALP staining (scale bar: 500 μm) of PDLSCs. e Quantification of ALP activity. The data are shown as the mean ± SD for n from 4 to 9; *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001 indicate significant differences between the indicated columns