Cell morphology and expression of nestin in hUCM-MSC and during the first steps of differentiation.

<p>Phase contrast images of undifferentiated hUCM-MSCs (<i>A</i>), neuroectodermal-like induced MSCs – niMSCs (<i>B</i>) and NSC-like cells after 3 (<i>C</i>) and 18 days (<i>D</i>) in culture in NSC induction medium. Immunofluorescence microscopy images for the neural precursor marker nestin (in green) in undifferentiated MSCs (<i>E</i>) and NSC-like cells (<i>F</i>). Counterstaining of nuclei was performed with DAPI (in blue). In (<i>A-D</i>) the scale bar represents 200 µm and in (<i>E-F</i>) represents 50 µm. Images are representative of at least 3 independent experiments.