Research Paper Volume 11, Issue 15 pp 5445—5462

Figure 2. CRP augments phosphate-induced osteo-/chondrogenic transdifferentiation and calcification of HAoSMCs. (A, B) Scatter dot plots and arithmetic means ± SEM (n=6; arbitrary units, a.u.) of CBFA1 (A) and ALPL (B) relative mRNA expression in HAoSMCs treated with control (CTR) or β-glycerophosphate (Pi) without and with 10 µg/ml recombinant human CRP. (C) Representative original images (n=4) showing Alizarin red staining in HAoSMCs treated with control (CTR) or calcification medium (Calc.) without and with 10 µg/ml recombinant human CRP. The calcified areas are shown as red staining. (D) Scatter dot plots and arithmetic means ± SEM (n=6; µg/mg protein) of calcium content in HAoSMCs treated with control (CTR) or calcification medium (Calc.) without and with 10 µg/ml recombinant human CRP. **(p<0.01), ***(p<0.001) significant vs. control HAoSMCs; †(p<0.05), ††(p<0.01), †††(p<0.001) significant vs. HAoSMCs treated with Pi/Calc. alone.