Molecular and cellular characterization of mesenchymal progenitors for skeletal biomedical devices

Mesenchymal cells are successfully used to create cell-loaded devices in tissue engineering. Molecular properties of the cells and interaction with polymer scaffolds regulate the development of desired tissues. The present study compared the molecular markers in mesenchymal pleuripotent C3H10T1/2 and osteogenic MBA-15 cells. The cells express transcription factors (TF) of chondro-ostegenic pathway (cbfa-1 and c-fos) and MyoD - TF of muscle differentiation pathway, but not myogenin. Analyzed cells expressed receptors for glucocorticoids, growth hormone, prolactin, and PTH, which indicates their potential responsiveness to systemic signals. Analysis of mRNA encoding for receptors of TGFbeta, TNF, and various interleukins revealed differential expression of IL-2r and TGFbeta-1r receptors, which were expressed by MBA-15 but not by C3H10T1/2 cells. Expression of functional genes indicates differences in the stages of cell differentiation: ALK was present in MBA-15 only, while both cell types expressed collagen-I. Furthermore, we evaluated the expression of adhesion proteins that mediate cell-polymer interactions by flow cytometry analysis. Cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) analyzed were integrinalpha-M (CD11b), selectin-E (CD62E), and PECAM-1 (CD31), which have shown differential expression on cells cultured on plastic, poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) or poly(DL-lactide-glycolide acid) (PDLGA) polymer films. Detailed molecular characterization of mesenchymal cells will enable optimization of culture conditions for successful creation of implantable cell-loaded constructs.