Analysis of mesenchymal and epithelial markers expression in MSCs treated for two weeks.

<p>(A-B) Histograms showing relative expression (RQ) in respect to control cells (CTR, grey bars) of mesenchymal markers (A) and epithelial markers (B) in MSCs, after two weeks of co-culture with RPTECs (striped bars), or after stimulation with EVs (black bars) or RPTEC-derived conditioned medium (TOT-CM, dotted bars). Results are expressed as mean of six independent experiments performed in triplicate. Data were analysed via a Student’s t test (unpaired, 2-tailed); *P<0.05 versus CTR. (C-H) Representative micrographs showing the expression of cytokeratin 18 (C, D, E) and aminopeptidase A (F, G, H) by MSCs stimulated with EVs (C-F), TOT-CM (D-G), or co-cultured with RPTECs (E-H). Nuclei were counterstained with Hoechst dye. Original magnification: X630. (I) Significant increased uptake of FITC-labeled albumin (BSA FITC) by MSC monolayers co-cultured with RPTECs, stimulated with EVs or with TOT-CM; *P<0.05 versus CTR. (J) Significant variation of TEER in MSC monolayers co-cultured with RPTECs, stimulated with EVs or with TOT-CM; *P<0.05 versus CTR.