Fig. 2

MET stimulation enhances the generation of Pdx1-expressing cells derived from mouse ES cells induced by activin and bFGF. a Experimental flow of MET on ES cell differentiation into Pdx1-expressing cells within the definitive endoderm (d8). GF; growth factors (activin and bFGF). Closed arrowhead indicates MET stimulation. b ES cells were stimulated by MET on day 7 followed by FACS analysis on day 8. Numbers indicate the proportion of E-cadherin+/Cxcr4+ definitive endoderm cells within total ES cell culture (left panels). Numbers indicate the proportion of E-cadherin+/Pdx1+ pancreatic progenitor cells within definitive endoderm cells (right panels). c Percentage of differentiated cells/ total cells on Day 8 co-treated with MET, activin and bFGF was normalized with sham-treated control and indicated as fold change as assessed by flow cytometry (n = 6, Error bars indicates ± SEM. p = 0.00023). d MET stimulation enhances the expression of Pdx1 mRNA expression in SK7 ES cells. β-actin was used as internal control (p = 0.049). Values are the mean ± S.E. from 6 plates for c and 2 plates for d. Statistical significance was determined by Student’s t-test. *; p < 0.05, ***; p < 0.001, n.s.; not significant