An extracellular matrix culture system for induced pluripotent stem cells derived from human dental pulp cells

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have emerged as a promising tool for treating incurable diseases. The current challenges are to avoid potential xenopathogenic transmission and immune rejection potentially caused by exposure of iPSCs to animal-derived products. In addition, an efficient feeder cell-free culture condition will be required for minimizing batch-to-batch variation and facilitating scale-up. Therefore, establishing an efficient extracellular matrix (ECM) culture system is considered as a prerequisite for the future clinical application of iPSC-based cell therapies. In this study, we evaluated the feasibility of culturing iPSCs in ECM derived from human dental pulp cells (hDCP).

iPSCs growing in Matrigel were transferred to ECM or Matrigel and cultured in mTeSRTM1 medium.

The number of adherent cells in the ECM group was higher than that in the Matrigel group after incubation for 8, 12, and 24 h, indicating that the ECM could enhance cell adherence. The adhesion of cells to ECM not only depends on simple physical attachment with ECM, but also mediated by fibronectin in the ECM. The hDPC-iPSCs showed orderly growth in the ECM, suggesting that the ECM could promote the growth and proliferation of hDPC-iPSCs. We also observed that stem cells growed along to avoid contact inhibition.

The iPSCs maintained undifferentiated state when cultured in ECM when the iPSCs and ECM are of the same cell origin. ECM and mTeSRTM1, can both be used as new culture medium for iPSCs that facilitates the clinical application of iPSC-based cell therapies in the future.