Mesenchymal stem cell concentration and bone repair: potential pitfalls from bench to bedside

Mesenchymal stem cells are multipotent and have the ability to differentiate into bone. We conducted a preclinical trial comparing the osteogenic potential of human bone marrow aspirate with that of mesenchymal stem cell-enriched bone marrow aspirate (both mixed with demineralized bone matrix) in a critical-sized rat femoral defect model.

The buffy coat was extracted from human bone marrow aspirate to obtain mesenchymal stem cell-enriched bone marrow aspirate. Fifty-nine athymic rats, each with a 6-mm femoral defect, were divided into six treatment groups: defect only (Group I), demineralized bone matrix and saline solution (Group II), demineralized bone matrix and bone marrow aspirate (Group III), demineralized bone matrix and mesenchymal stem cell-enriched bone marrow aspirate (Group IV), demineralized bone matrix and recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) (Group V [positive control]), and absorbable collagen sponge and rhBMP-2 (Group VI [positive control]). All animals were killed at twelve weeks for radiographic, micro-computed tomography, histomorphometric, and histologic analysis.

There was wide variability in the mesenchymal stem cell concentrations obtained from the human donors. All ten defects healed in the positive control groups (Groups V and VI). Only one defect healed in each experimental group (Groups II, III, and IV) (i.e., three of forty-four defects healed). There was no significant difference among the radiographic scores of Groups II, III, and IV (p = 0.59), and the score for each of those groups was significantly higher than that for Group I (p

Neither bone marrow aspirate nor mesenchymal stem cell-enriched bone marrow aspirate mixed with demineralized bone matrix resulted in reliable healing of critical-sized bone defects. It is possible that a greater number of mesenchymal stem cells or an enhanced osteoinductive signal is required for adequate bone-healing. Mesenchymal stem cell and/or carrier variability may also contribute to differences in bone formation.