Figure 2

SP subpopulation enriches for stem-cell like phenotype in in vitro assays. (A) During in vitro culture, majority of SP cells formed holoclones with individual cells clustering tightly and forming a well-defined clone border. (B) NSP cells tended to form loose clusters of meroclones or, paraclones (inset) with tiny clusters of cells situated far from each other. All photos were taken on day 9 post-sorting; original magnification 100X. (C) SP cells formed more holoclones than NSP cells during in vitro culture (p < 0.0001). (D) The gating for the ALDH^bright population was set by a control tube with the addition of DEAB, an ALDH inhibitor. (E) SP cells showed higher presence of ALDH^bright cells (18.08 ± 11.46%) than NSP cells (5.10 ± 3.56%) (p < 0.05).