Fig 2: Protein expression of Lin28 and transcriptional analysis of pluripotency genes. A: Positive expression of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) specific marker Lin28 was observed after 12 h, 24 h,48 h, and 72 h of 20 µM ZnCl2 treatment, as visualized by immunocytochemical staining; B: Quantified fluorescent intensities showed that 20 µM ZnCl2 treated MSCs expressed Lin28 protein (cP = 0.001); C: Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis of pluripotency genes OCT4, SOX2, and NANOG, exhibited significantly increased (aP = 0.05) expression of OCT4 at 12, 24, 48, and 72 h, while SOX2, and NANOG showed significantly increased expression at 24 and 48 h (aP = 0.05, bp = 0.01). Results were analyzed by SPSS, performing an independent sample t-test. Data were analyzed as mean ± SD (n = 3) where significance level aP = 0.05.

Fig 3: Characterization of mesenchymal stem cells: (A) hUC-MSCs showing positive expression of surface-specific markers, i.e., CD29, CD105, Vimentin, CD117, Lin28, and Stro1 and negative expression of hematopoietic markers, i.e., CD45 and HLA-DR. (B) Bright field images showing hUC-MSC differentiation toward osteogenic, adipogenic, and chondrogenic lineages indicated by the presence of mineral deposits, oil droplets, and proteoglycan content, stained with Alizarin red, Oil red O, and Alcian blue stain, respectively. (C) Flow cytometry analysis presenting the positive expression of MSC-specific markers, i.e., CD44, CD73, CD90, and CD105.