Notch signaling in stromal cells or MCs did not account for the enhanced adhesion.

<p>(A) An adipocyte differentiation assay of OP9-Ctrl cells stimulated with immobilized Notch ligands or human IgG1 (control) for 5 days in the presence of DAPT (10 µM) or the same volume of DMSO (control, 0.1% vol/vol). Data represent the numbers of adipocytes in a field (magnification; x200) in the center of the wells (mean ± SEM of triplicate cultures) (*p<0.05 significantly different from IgG1, the Student’s <i>t-</i>test). ND: not detected. (B) OP9-Ctrl cells were stimulated with each immobilized Notch ligand or human IgG1 (control) for 2 days in a 48-well plate, and an adhesion assay (60 min) for MCs was then performed. (C) An adhesion assay (60 min) for MCs on each OP9 cell with DAPT (10 µM) or the same volume of DMSO (control, 0.1% vol/vol). (B and C) Data represent the percentages of non-adherent MCs (mean ± SEM of triplicate cultures). (B) *p<0.05 significantly different from IgG1 and (C) no significant differences between the responses with DMSO and DAPT on the same OP9 cells (the Student’s <i>t-</i>test).