Decellularized amniotic membrane hydrogel promotes mesenchymal stem cell differentiation into smooth muscle cells

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Tissue Engineering
• Regenerative Medicine

Background:

• Bladder extracellular matrix (B-ECM) enhances mesenchymal stem cell differentiation into smooth muscle cells (SMC).
• Xenogeneic B-ECM presents challenges including ethical concerns and contamination risks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate human amniotic membrane-derived hydrogel (HAM-hydrogel) as a xenogeneic-free alternative to B-ECM.
• To evaluate HAM-hydrogel's efficacy in promoting myogenic differentiation of rabbit adipose tissue-derived MSCs (AD-MSCs).

Main Methods:

• Decellularization of human amniotic membrane (HAM) and sheep urinary bladder (SUB) to create hydrogels.
• Culture of rabbit AD-MSCs on SUB-hydrogel and HAM-hydrogel scaffolds with myogenic growth factors.
• Assessment of SMC-specific marker expression (MHC, α-SMA) via qPCR, immunocytochemistry, flow cytometry, and Western blot.

Main Results:

• Decellularization protocols successfully preserved ECM components in both HAM-hydrogel and SUB-hydrogel.
• HAM-hydrogel and SUB-hydrogel significantly upregulated SMC marker expression compared to controls (p ≤ .05).
• HAM-hydrogel demonstrated comparable efficacy to SUB-hydrogel in promoting myogenic differentiation.

Conclusions:

• HAM-hydrogel is a viable xenogeneic-free biomaterial for bladder tissue engineering.
• This approach mitigates risks associated with xenogeneic materials.
• HAM-hydrogel holds potential for advancing regenerative strategies in urology.