Smooth muscle differentiation of ASCs results in significant production of smooth muscle contractile proteins.

(a) Alpha smooth muscle actin (αSMA) and myosin light chain kinase (MYLK) were detected via immunofluorescence in ASCs differentiated by angiotensin II (ASC-SMC I) or by angiotensin II followed by smooth muscle growth media (ASC-SMC II), and in human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMCs) controls. Fluorescence images of cells stained for αSMA (green), MYLK (red) and DAPI (blue) were captured at 20x magnification (scale bar = 100 μm). (b) Quantification of average fluorescence signal intensity per cell area (n = 70) for each marker shows a significant increase in smooth muscle contractile protein expression following differentiation for the ASC-SMC II group. *denotes significance between groups (p<0.05).