[Microarray analysis of the effects of serum-free medium on gene expression changes in human mesenchymal stem cells...

We examined the effects of serum-free medium on the gene expression changes in human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) during the in vitro culture using a DNA microarray analysis. In this study, we cultured hMSCs with two kinds of medium; 1) MSCGM (contain 10% fetal bovine serum) or 2) STK2 (serum-free medium developed for mesechymal stem cells multiplication), and compared hMSCs proliferation, cell morphology, and gene expression changes until 50 days culture. Expression analysis was performed with Affymetrix GeneChip Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 Array. hMSC proliferation was significantly higher in STK2 medium than in MSCGM medium. The cell morphology of hMSC cultured with STK2 was not significantly changed in 50 days culture. The gene expression changes in hMSCs during the in vitro culture were significantly higher in STK2 than in MSCGM. After 50 days culture, 1991 genes were significantly changed the expression levels compared with 3 days in STK2 but not MSCGM. The expressions of genes related to cell cycle, cancer, proliferation, and cell growth were significantly changed by STK2 for 50 days culture. It was also changed by STK2 that the expressions of genes related to the signaling pathways contain various growth factors, such as IGF-1, FGF, TGF-β, EGF, proliferation, and cell cycle. These results suggest that STK2 may be useful to obtain an enough number of hMSC cells for tissue engineered medical devices in short-term, however, it should be recognized that STK2 would alter the expressions of genes related to a variety of signaling pathways in hMSC if the culture period would be extended to obtain a large number of cells.