Cell fate commitment of HPC after differentiation under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. EPO treatment increased the percentage of Tuj1 positive cells under both normoxic and hypoxic conditions (A). Five days after HPC were stimulated into differentiation by bFGF withdrawal and exposed to hypoxia in the vehicle treated group, approximately 24% of cells differentiated into GFAP positive astrocytes, many of which presented abnormally looking stress fibers (B). In the EPO treated group (C), there were less GFAP positive cells (17%), compared to the vehicle treated group, while more cells expressed Tuj1, suggesting increased neural cell fate commitment. Boxes: quartiles, mean, SEM; *, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.001; red, Tuj1 positive immature neurons; green, GFAP positive astrocytes; scale 100 μm.