Isolation, Culture, and Characterization of Chicken Cartilage Stem/Progenitor Cells

A chondrocyte progenitor population isolated from the surface zone of articular cartilage has become a promising cell source for cell-based cartilage repair. The cartilage-derived stem/progenitor cells are multipotent stem cells, which can differentiate into three cell types in vitro including adipocytes, osteoblasts, and chondrocytes. Much work has been done on cartilage stem/progenitor cells (CSPCs) from people, horses, and cattle, but the relatively little literature has been published about these cells in chickens. In our work, CSPCs were isolated from chicken embryos in incubated eggs for 20 days. In order to inquire into the biological characteristics of chicken CSPCs, immunofluorescence, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and flow cytometry were adopted to detect the characteristic surface markers of CSPCs. Primary CSPCs were subcultured to passage 22 and, for purpose of knowing the change of cell numbers, we drew the growth curves. Isolated CSPCs were induced to adipocytes, osteoblasts, and chondrocytes. Our results suggest that we have identified and characterised a novel cartilage progenitor population resident in chicken articular cartilage and CSPCs isolated from chickens possess similar biological characteristics to those from other species, which will greatly benefit future cell-based cartilage repair therapies.