Differential Characterization of Two Kinds of Stem Cells Isolated from Rabbit Nucleus Pulposus and Annulus Fibrosus

Figure 3

Stem cell marker expression of nucleostemin (NS; (a), (b)), Oct-4 (c, d), SSEA-4 (e, f), and stro-1 (g, h) for AFSCs (a, c, e, and g) and NPSCs (b, d, f, and h) determined by immunocytochemistry (a)–(h) and analyzed by semiquantification (i). Less than 40% of AFSCs expressed nucleostemin (a, i), whereas more than 90% of NPSCs were positively stained indicating nucleostemin (b, i). About 28% of AFSCs presented Oct-4 (c, i) compared to 86% for NPSCs (d, i). There was no significant difference in the expression of SSEA-4 and stro-1 for AFSCs (e, g, i) and NPSCs (f, h, i). Inset images were the enlarged images in the respective square. Bar: 100 μm.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)

(h)

(i)