Effects of gravity on proliferation and differentiation of adipose tissue-derived stem cells

Recent studies have demonstrated that culturing stem cells under altered gravity conditions modulates their proliferation and differentiation. In the current study we focused on osteogenesis. In an attempt to induce high proliferation rates and low differentiation of adipose tissue-derived stem cells (AT-MSCs), we exposed them to simulated microgravity (sim-microg) and hypergravity. We used the random positioning machine (RPM) to simulate microg and the medium sized centrifuge for acceleration research (MidiCAR) for hypergravity. AT-MSCs from different origin (human and goat) seeded in OptiCells were housed in the RPM and MidiCAR and compared with suitable controls cultured under static conditions (1 g). The experiments lasted 7 or 14 days. We report data on AT-MSCs proliferation as DNA content, and on the expression of specific osteogenic markers (cbfa-1, alkaline phosphatase activity and Van Kossa staining).