Figure 2

Soft surfaces increase mRNA expression of astrocyte markers and decrease mRNA expression of NSCs marker after 3 days of differentiation of mouse embryonic neural stem cells in the absence of serum. Mouse embryonic NSCs were cultured on three types of plates (1 kPa plates, 12 kPa plates, and commonly used plastic plates [2.8 GPa]) for 3 days in serum-free conditions. The mRNA expression of GFAP, S100B, and GAPDH on each plate type was detected by qPCR analysis. The expression levels of (a) GFAP and (b) S100B were normalized relative to that of GAPDH. Mouse embryonic NSCs were cultured on two types of plates (1 kPa plates and commonly used plastic plates [2.8 GPa]) for 24 h in serum-free conditions. The mRNA expression of GFAP, Nestin, and GAPDH on each plate type and pre-seeding NSCs were detected by qPCR analysis. The expression levels of (c) GFAP and (d) Nestin were normalized relative to that of GAPDH. Error bars represent the standard deviation; *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.005 (Student’s t test with Bonferroni correction). NSCs neural stem cells, GFAP glial fibrillary acidic protein, S100B S100 calcium binding protein B, GAPDH glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, qPCR quantitative polymerase chain reaction.