Fig 2: Characteristics of BMSCs and transfection efficiency. (A) Fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis of CD29, CD44, CD34 and CD45 protein expression levels in BMSCs. (B) Cellular morphological features of BMSCs, which exhibited a spindle shape. Scale bar, 50 µm. (C) Red fluorescence of BMSCs after transfection with OE-Tbx18 for 48 h. Scale bar, 50 µm. (D) The microscopic morphology of BMSCs gradually evolved into strip-like features after 10 days of transduction by OE-Tbx18. Scale bar, 50 µm. (E) Western blotting of Tbx18 protein expression levels after transfection for 72 h. BMSCs without transfection were used as the control, BMSCs transfected with the empty vector were used as the NC. (F) Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR analysis of Tbx18 mRNA expression levels after transfection for 72 h. **P<0.01. BMSCs, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells; OE-Tbx18, T-box 18 overexpression plasmid; NC, negative control.