qPCR analysis of progenitor and proliferation marker expression in RPCs under proliferation conditions.

<p>The qPCR results showed that the expression levels of retinal progenitor markers, including Pax6, vimentin and Mash1 (A) were significantly or marginally higher in the RPCs treated with CM than in those cultured with SM. No obvious changes were detected in the expression of nestin (a retinal progenitor marker) between different groups; however, the expression levels of ki-67 (a cell proliferation marker) were slightly higher in the three CM-treated cultures (B). In addition, RPCs showed significantly higher expression levels of TLX (a nuclear receptor) and BTC (an EGF-like protein) in response to BMSC CM treatment than in the other groups (C).