Fig. 1: NKX3.1-induced differentiation of MePCs into iMPCs. | Nature Communications

Fig. 1: NKX3.1-induced differentiation of MePCs into iMPCs.

From: Robust differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into mural progenitor cells via transient activation of NKX3.1

Fig. 1

A Differentiation Schema: Illustration of the stepwise differentiation from iPSCs to iMPCs, detailing mesodermal induction, mural cell specification, and expansion phases. B NKX3.1 Expression: Time-course qRT-PCR analysis demonstrating NKX3.1 upregulation during differentiation (n = 9; ***P < 0.001). C Morphological Progression: Phase-contrast microscopy revealing morphological evolution at various stages (Scale bars: 100 µm; insets 50 µm). D Flow Cytometry: Analysis of CD13 and CD140b (mural cell markers), and TRA1-81 (pluripotency marker) throughout differentiation stages. E Cytoskeletal Markers: Immunofluorescence of iMPCs for α-SMA, SM22, Vimentin, and Calponin with DAPI nuclear staining (Scale bars: 50 µm). F Smooth Muscle Markers: qRT-PCR quantification of SMC gene expression (n = 3, 4, 5, 7; *P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001). G Pericyte Markers: qRT-PCR analysis showing pericyte-specific gene expression (n = 3, 4, 5, 7; *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001). All PCR data is normalized to GAPDH. All data are mean ± s.e.m. n are biological replicates (B, F, G). Statistics are one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s post-test analysis (B, F, G). A was partially created with BioRender.com released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en).

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