Fabrication and Characterization of Heparin/Collagen Sponge for in Vitro Differentiation of Wharton’s Jelly-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells into Hepatocytes

Background: The prospect of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as an adult stem cell source for neuronal tissue regeneration via their ability to differentiate into neurons has generated considerable excitement in regenerative cell therapy.Methods: In this study, we isolated ovine Wharton’s jelly derived MSCs and expanded in vitro in adherent culture. After the characterisation of MSCs using specific markers, we analysed the culture morphology of MSCs differentiated into neurons by a two-step chemical-based induction protocols involving a pre-induction step and a direct one step chemical-based induction protocol. Morphological changes after induction were evaluated.Result: In both the methods, after neuronal induction, the cells displayed phenotypic characteristic of neurons and comparatively less cytotoxicity was observed in the direct induction method. This study confirmed the possibility of generating neuron like cells from ovine WJ-MSCs and thereby exploring the potential of MSCs as therapeutic tool for treating neurological disorders in Veterinary Medicine.

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AFM-based Analysis of Wharton’s Jelly Mesenchymal Stem Cells

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms20184351 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 20 (18) ◽

pp. 4351

Author(s):

Renata Szydlak ◽

Marcin Majka ◽

Małgorzata Lekka ◽

Marta Kot ◽

Piotr Laidler

Keyword(s):

Stem Cells ◽

Mesenchymal Stem Cells ◽

Young’S Modulus ◽

Young's Modulus ◽

Wharton’S Jelly ◽

In Vitro Cultivation ◽

Multipotent Stem Cells ◽

Wharton's Jelly ◽

Migration Potential

Wharton’s jelly mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSCs) are multipotent stem cells that can be used in regenerative medicine. However, to reach the high therapeutic efficacy of WJ-MSCs, it is necessary to obtain a large amount of MSCs, which requires their extensive in vitro culturing. Numerous studies have shown that in vitro expansion of MSCs can lead to changes in cell behavior; cells lose their ability to proliferate, differentiate and migrate. One of the important measures of cells’ migration potential is their elasticity, determined by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and quantified by Young’s modulus. This work describes the elasticity of WJ-MSCs during in vitro cultivation. To identify the properties that enable transmigration, the deformability of WJ-MSCs that were able to migrate across the endothelial monolayer or Matrigel was analyzed by AFM. We showed that WJ-MSCs displayed differences in deformability during in vitro cultivation. This phenomenon seems to be strongly correlated with the organization of F-actin and reflects the changes characteristic for stem cell maturation. Furthermore, the results confirm the relationship between the deformability of WJ-MSCs and their migration potential and suggest the use of Young’s modulus as one of the measures of competency of MSCs with respect to their possible use in therapy.

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