Similarly to osteogenic differentiation, chondrogenesis was more extensive in Normal- than in IUGR-MSCs as demonstrated by the larger micromasses (P = 0.001; Figures 5A,B) and higher expression levels of the transcription factor SOX9 (P < 0.05; Figure 5C) measured after 28 days of differentiation. This evidence concerns the gene SOX9 and fetal growth restriction.