Fig. 1

The separation, identification and induction of BMSCs. a 24 h after the separation, only blood cells could be seen in the dish. b Two days later, with replacement of medium several attached BMSCs, which were in spindle shape, could be seen. c When it came to 6 days, the BMSCs grew vortically. d This was the alizarin red staining for the osteoblasts, which meant that BMSCs could different into osteoblasts. e The differentiation of BMSCs to chondroblasts was confirmed by alcian blue staining. f BMSCs were positive for the oil red O staining when BMSCs were induced to adipocytes. g The induction procedure was performed under a nonadherent state and the spheroids were ranged from 100 to 200 μm. h After the last step of induction, the reattached clusters were stained by DTZ, and they showed brownish red. (scale bar = 50 μm). i The flow cytometry of BMSCs