Figure 6
Effect of Zn-CS/nHAp/β-GP hydrogel on the mRNA expression of osteoblast differentiation marker genes in mMSCs. Cells were grown in the presence of Zn-CS/β-GP hydrogel or Zn-CS/nHAp/β-GP hydrogel under normal and osteogenic conditions for a 7 days and b 14 days. At the end of the incubation periods, total RNA was isolated and real-time RT-PCR was performed using primers specific for Runx2, ALP, COL-I, and OC genes. The fold change in mRNA expression was calculated over the control samples. GAPDH was used as an internal control. NM normal medium, OM osteogenic medium. Asterisk indicates significant increase compared with the respective control, i.e., Zn-CS/β-GP (p < 0.05).