Journal: Biology

Article Title: Grape Pomace Polyphenolic Extract Promotes Osteogenic Differentiation in Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Through Activation of RUNX2 and NRF2 Transcription Factors: A Potential Natural Strategy for Osteoporosis Prevention

doi: 10.3390/biology15090719

Figure Lengend Snippet: Effects of GPE on human mesenchymal stem viability. BMSC and AdMSC were exposed at increasing concentrations of GPE (1, 5, 10 and 25 µg GAE/mL) for 24 h and cell viability was evaluated by MTT assay. Data are shown as mean ± SD ( n = 5); * p < 0.05 versus untreated control cells (CTR).

Article Snippet: Human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) from healthy donors (ATCC-PCS-500-012) were purchased from ATCC (Milan, Italy) as well as mesenchymal stem cell basal medium (ATCC PCS500030) and mesenchymal stem cell growth kit for BMSC (ATCC PCS500041).

Techniques: MTT Assay, Control

Journal: bioRxiv

Article Title: Scalable longitudinal imaging and transcriptomics of cells in dynamic enclosures

doi: 10.64898/2026.05.05.723030

Figure Lengend Snippet: A: UMAP based on transcriptomic data from primary human preadipocytes differentiated for seven days on a fibronectin-coated flow cell. The colors correspond to different clusters based on transcriptomic analysis. B: Transcriptomic UMAP colored by the lipid accumulation score, defined as the ratio between the BODIPY stain and the nuclear stain in each CCE. The insets show examples of cells that are very close in gene expression space but differ in their lipid content. C: violin plots depicting the distribution of lipid accumulation scores (y axis) across the transcriptomic clusters (x axis). D: actual (x axis) vs predicted (y axis) lipid accumulation scores from the elastic net model. The plot is for the held-out test set (20% of the total data). E: Euler diagram showing the overlap between top-20 differentially expressed genes between transcriptomic clusters (blue) and model-selected predictors of lipid accumulation (pink). F: average Log2 fold-change between clusters (x axis) vs absolute model coefficient (y axis) for the genes selected by the model. The red color indicates genes that are among the top-20 differentially expressed genes between transcriptomic clusters. G: Gene expression UMAP colored by the top-3 positive predictors identified by the model, showing that the expression values of these genes are uniformly distributed across the UMAP based on global transcriptomic differences. H: UMAP based on transcriptomic data for BV2 mouse microglial cells. The colors correspond to different clusters based on transcriptomic analysis. I: transcriptomic UMAP colored by phagocytic activity as measured by pHrodo™ intensity after four hours. J: UMAP based on DINOv2 features, colored by phagocytic activity showing a greater degree of separation between high vs low phagocytic scores, compared to the transcriptomic UMAP in panel H. K: violin plots depicting the distribution of phagocytic scores (y axis) across the transcriptomic clusters (x axis). L: R 2 performance of elastic net models trained on expression-only features, DINOv2-only features or a combination of the two (x axis). The data refers to the held-out test set (20% of the total data). M: actual (x axis) vs predicted (y axis) phagocytic scores from the elastic net model using the combined expression and DINOv2 features. The plot is for the held-out test set (20% of the total data). N: Euler plot showing the overlap between top-20 differentially expressed genes between transcriptomic clusters (blue) and model-selected predictors of phagocytic activity (pink). O: average Log2 fold-change between clusters (x axis) vs absolute models coefficient (y axis) for the genes selected by the expression-only model. The red color indicates genes that are among the top-20 differentially expressed genes between transcriptomic clusters. P: ridge plots displaying the expression level (x axis) of Gpnmb and Clec4e across transcriptomic clusters (x axis). These two genes are among the top positive predictors for the gene expression-based model and have clear mechanistic evidence linking them to the phagocytosis process. However, their expression is very similar across all the transcriptomic clusters.

Article Snippet: Adipogenesis was induced using Adipocytes Differentiation Toolkit for Adipose Derived MSCs and Preadipocytes (ATCC, # PCS-500-050).

Techniques: Staining, Gene Expression, Expressing, Activity Assay

Journal: Experimental cell research

Article Title: Tumor stroma interaction is mediated by monocarboxylate metabolism

doi: 10.1016/j.yexcr.2017.01.013

Figure Lengend Snippet: Glycolytic flux and lactate metabolism. (A) The extracellular acidification rate (ECAR; mean±SD) of MDA-MB-231 cells and CAFs, measured by Seahorse analyzer, reveals that MDA-MB-231 cells are more glycolytic than CAFs. The extracellular acidification rate ECAR measures proton excretion (representing cellular glycolysis) over time in units mpH/min where 1 mpH = 4.3 pmole excreted H+. (B) Extracellular glucose consumption and lactate production of MDA-MB-231 cells and stromal cells confirm the higher glycolytic activity of MDA-MB-231 cells compared to CAFs observed by Seahorse Analyzer analysis. Data are displayed as mean±SD (n = 3). (C) The glucose uptake is significantly higher in MDA-MB-231 cells (MDAs) than in MSCs or CAFs, in good agreement with the higher aerobic glycolysis observed in the cancer cells. Data are displayed as mean±SD (n = 4). (D) CAFs take up and metabolize lactate as well as secrete lactate oxidation metabolites, as shown by 13C MR spectroscopy on cell extracts and CCM. Signal assignments are: α-KG – α-ketoglutarate, Glu – glutamate; Ala – alanine; Lac – lactate; Pyr – pyruvate; α-Glc & β-Glc – α-glucose and β-glucose; “-C” followed by number – position of 13C labeling as a result of metabolic conversion of exogenous 10 mM 3-13C-L-lactate. ** p<0.005, *** p<0.0005 by two-tailed, unpaired, unequal variance Student’s T-test; Abbreviations: MDAs – MDA-MB-231 cells; MSCs: human mesenchymal stem cells; CAFs: cancer-associated fibroblasts; CCM – CAF-conditioned medium;

Article Snippet: Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were purchased from Lonza Walkersville, Inc. (Walkersville, MD; Lonza Group Ltd.).

Techniques: Activity Assay, Spectroscopy, Labeling, Two Tailed Test

Journal: Disease Models & Mechanisms

Article Title: Intramyocardial angiogenetic stem cells and epicardial erythropoietin save the acute ischemic heart

doi: 10.1242/dmm.033282

Figure Lengend Snippet: EPO induced synergistic angiogenesis with rat cardiac CD45 − CD44 + DDR2 + MSCs and facilitated cardiomyogenic differentiation. (A,B) Representative immunostaining images (A) from co-cultures of Qtracker ® -labeled (red) cardiac CD45 − CD44 + DDR2 + MSCs and cardiomyocytes (CM). MSCs (arrows) show partially positive expression for cardiomyogenic transcription factors GATA4 (yellow) and Nkx2.5 (green). Quantified GATA4 and Nkx2.5 signal intensities (B) illustrated promotion of cardiomyogenic differentiation in co-cultured MSCs compared with mono-cultured MSCs and strongest Nkx2.5 signal expression in co-cultured MSCs by continuous EPO stimulation. The average signal intensities from MSCs in mono-culture were arbitrarily given a value of 1 (2°). * P <0.05 versus cardiac CD45 − CD44 + DDR2 + MSC mono-culture. # P <0.05. Scale bars: 10 µm. Blue, DAPI in nuclei. (C-E) Representative phase-contrast microscopy images (C) from HUVECs in untreated mono-culture (C1, HUVEC control), in co-culture with rat cardiac CD45 − CD44 + DDR2 + MSCs (C2, HUVECs+MSCs), in MSC-conditioned medium (C3, Cond. DMEM-10), in EPO-supplemented medium (C4, DMEM-10+EPO) and in EPO-supplemented MSC-conditioned medium (C5, Cond. DMEM-10+EPO) with clear tubuli and network formations. Quantified HUVEC branching (D) and junctional network formation (E) illustrated synergistic angiogenetic potential of EPO and paracrine factors from cardiac CD45 − CD44 + DDR2 + MSCs. * P <0.05. Scale bars: 100 µm. Mean±s.e.m.

Article Snippet: Relative fluorescence signal intensities of intranuclear Nkx2.5 and GATA4 in Qtracker ® -labeled cardiac MSCs were quantified under standardized confocal laser scanning microscope settings (ELYRA PS.1 LSM 780, Carl Zeiss) and application of ZEN 2011 software (blue edition, Carl Zeiss).

Techniques: Immunostaining, Labeling, Expressing, Cell Culture, Microscopy, Co-Culture Assay