Stemness distinctions between the ectomesenchymal stem cells from neonatal and adult mice

Ectomesenchymal stem cells (EMSCs), a type of adult stem cells derived from cranial neural crest, can be non-invasively harvested from respiratory mucosa and play vital roles in therapies based on their stemness. However, whether donor age has any impact on the stemness of EMSCs remains elusive and is essential for EMSCs-based therapies. To address this, we first cultivated EMSCs from neonatal mice aged 1 week and adult mice aged 3 months or 6 months, and then compared their morphology, proliferative capacity, and pluripotency through various induced differentiation assays. The results showed that neonatal EMSCs were fibroblast-like, more regular compared to adult EMSCs; the proliferative capacity of neonatal EMSCs was higher than that of adult EMSCs. More importantly, after neural, adipogenic, chondrogenic, and osteogenic differentiation, neonatal EMSCs differentiated into respective cell types significantly better than adult EMSCs. Notably, EMSCs from mice aged 3 months differentiated into mesodermal lineages better than those from 6 months old mice after induction. Collectively, these results suggest donor ages have significant impact on the EMSCs from respiratory mucosa.