Fig. 4

Effect of the tendon extracts on cell proliferation (a), alkaline phosphatase activity (b) and calcium deposition (c) in UMR 106 cells. a UMR106 cells were treated with various concentration of tendon extract for 72 h. Cell proliferation was determined by MTT assay. Results were obtained from three independent experiments (3–6 replicates for each experiment) and expressed as mean ± SD. *P ≤ 0.05, **P ≤ 0.01, ***P ≤ 0.001 versus the control group (“0”). b UMR106 cells were treated with differentiation medium (Ctrl) and the tendon extract for 5 days. The ALP activity was normalized with the protein content. Cells treated with dexamethasone (Dex) were used as positive control. Results were obtained from three independent experiments (2–4 replicates for each experiment) and expressed as mean ± SD. **P ≤ 0.01, ***P ≤ 0.001 versus the control group (Ctrl). c UMR106 cells were treated with basal medium (neg), differentiation medium (Ctrl) and various concentration of tendon extract for 6 days. Calcium deposition were measured by Alizarin red S staining and quantified by a plate reader at 562 nm. Results were obtained from three independent experiments (2–4 replicates for each experiment) and expressed as mean ± SD. *P ≤ 0.05, **P ≤ 0.01 versus the control group (Ctrl)