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Assessment of the Immunomodulatory Properties of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs)
Published on: December 24, 2015
Hypoxia inhibits the spontaneous calcification of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells
Yong-Can Huang1, Hong-Ming Zhu, Jia-Qin Cai
1Division of Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering, Regenerative Medicine Research Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, PR China.
Abstract:
Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) are the popular seed cells for regenerative medicine, and there has been a rapid increase in the number of BM-MSC-based clinical trials. However, the safety of these cells should also be closely studied. In this study, spontaneous calcification of BM-MSCs from rats was evaluated in normoxia (20% O(2)) without osteogenic medium after continuous culture for 21 days; obvious mineralized nodules were observed, which were positive for Alizarin Red, collagen-I (Col-I), osteocalcin (OC) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and mainly consisted of C, O and Ca elements. Interestingly, hypoxia (2% O(2)) significantly inhibited this spontaneous calcification. In addition, the ALP and calcium content of rBM-MSCs were sharply reduced. Based on RT-PCR results, the expression of osteogenic genes (Cbfa1/Runx2, Col-I, ALP, and OC) was reduced compared to that in normoxia. These results demonstrate a natural and unique characterization of rat BM-MSCs in normoxia after continuous culture and highlight the inhibiting effects of hypoxia. Finally, this study contributes to the information regarding the application of BM-MSCs in the regeneration of various tissues.
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