Isolation of mesenchymal stem cells from human placenta: comparison with human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells

The presence within bone marrow of a population of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) able to differentiate into a number of different mesenchymal tissues, including bone and cartilage, was first suggested by Friedenstein nearly 40 years ago. Since then MSCs have been demonstrated in a variety of fetal and adult tissues, including bone marrow, fetal blood and liver, cord blood, amniotic fluid and, in some circumstances, in adult peripheral blood. MSCs from all of these sources can be extensively expanded in vitro and when cultured under specific permissive conditions retain their ability to differentiate into multiple lineages including bone, cartilage, fat, muscle, nerve, glial and stromal cells. There has been great interest in these cells both because of their value as a model for studying the molecular basis of differentiation and because of their therapeutic potential for tissue repair and immune modulation. However, MSCs are a rare population in these tissues. Here we tried to identify cells with MSC-like potency in human placenta. We isolated adherent cells from trypsin-digested term placentas and examined these cells for morphology, surface markers, and differentiation potential and found that they expressed several stem cell markers. They also showed endothelial and neurogenic differentiation potentials under appropriate conditions. We suggest that placenta-derived cells have multilineage differentiation potential similar to MSCs in terms of morphology and cell-surface antigen expression. The placenta may prove to be a useful source of MSCs.     

Identification and analysis of in vitro cultured CD45-positive cells capable of multi-lineage differentiation

We report on a subset of cells that co-purify with CD45-positive/Lineage minus (CD45(pos)/Lin(minus)) hematopoietic cells that are capable of in vitro differentiation into multi-potential cells including cells with neuroectoderm properties. Although these cells are CD45 positive and have properties similar to CD45-negative mesenchymal progenitor cells (MPC) derived from bone marrow (BM), they are neither hematopoietic cells nor mesenchymal cells. These CD45(pos)/Lin(minus) cells can be expanded in vitro, express the stem cell genes Oct-4 and Nanog and can be induced to differentiate into endothelial cells, osteoblasts, muscle cells and neural cells at frequencies similar to those reported for bone marrow mesenchymal cells. Long-term culture of these cells followed by transplantation into NOD/SCID mice resulted in positive bone marrow stromal cell engraftment but not hematopoietic engraftment, suggesting that despite their CD45-positive status these cells do not have the same properties as hematopoietic stem cells. Clonal cell analysis determined that the culture period caused a broadening in the differentiation potential of the starting population.     

M-CSF诱导人骨髓间充质干细胞分化为肝样细胞的分子机制

本研究主要目的是明确M-CSF诱导骨髓间充质干细胞分化为肝样细胞的分子机制,为临床中的肝移植和治疗肝病提供新思路。对取自于本院骨科治疗的患者的股骨骨髓间充质干细胞进行提取、分离、传代培养及鉴定。流式细胞仪检测BMSCs的表面表型。为了诱导BMSCs的肝分化,本研究将BMSCs加入到培养基中。骨髓间充质干细胞诱导21 d后,BMSCs表达了肝细胞特异性标志物a-蛋白(AFP)和细胞角蛋白18(CK18),通过免疫荧光染色证实了分化与为分化的BMSCs表达的差异性。分化的BMSCs还显示了肝细胞的体外功能特征,包括白蛋白产生、尿素分泌和糖原储存。本研究结果表明,BMSCs在M-CSF诱导下可分化为功能性肝细胞样细胞,可作为肝病治疗的细胞来源。     

胎肝中肝干细胞的免疫组织化学研究

目的采用免疫组织化学方法显示不同时期人胚胎肝脏的干细胞,分析肝干细胞的形态与分布特点及发育过程中干细胞在肝脏中的迁徙,探讨肝脏的发生发育及肝内干细胞的来源。方法不同发育时期胎儿肝脏,取材、固定、制成石蜡切片,ABC法检测肝干细胞特异性的表面标记物CD34、CK19、C-11和OV6。结果胎肝内汇管区周边界板处有卵圆样细胞表达CD34、C-11、CK19和OV6,阳性细胞紧密排列成管,呈鞘样包绕着早期汇管区,部分包绕着初级汇管区,随着次级汇管区的成熟,卵圆样干细胞逐渐局限于赫令氏管周围;此外,胚胎发育的不同阶段均可见CD34、OV6阳性的单核样细胞分散在肝索、肝血窦之内,多见于汇管区的问充质组织之内,肝血管内鲜见。结论胚胎发育早期汇管区周边界板处含有丰富的干细胞,可能是肝脏发育的起点,这些干细胞逐渐分化为胆管上皮样细胞,然后分化为肝细胞和胆管上皮细胞;造血干细胞是肝内的另一干细胞来源,造血干细胞在肝内受到诱导作用分化为小部分的肝实质细胞。     

Hepatic stem cells: from inside and outside the liver?

The liver is normally proliferatively quiescent, but hepatocyte loss through partial hepatectomy, uncomplicated by virus infection or inflammation, invokes a rapid regenerative response from all cell types in the liver to perfectly restore liver mass. Moreover, hepatocyte transplants in animals have shown that a certain proportion of hepatocytes in foetal and adult liver can clonally expand, suggesting that hepatoblasts/hepatocytes are themselves the functional stem cells of the liver. More severe liver injury can activate a potential stem cell compartment located within the intrahepatic biliary tree, giving rise to cords of bipotential transit amplifying cells (oval cells), that can ultimately differentiate into hepatocytes and biliary epithelial cells. A third population of stem cells with hepatic potential resides in the bone marrow; these haematopoietic stem cells may contribute to the albeit low renewal rate of hepatocytes, but can make a more significant contribution to regeneration under a very strong positive selection pressure. In such instances, cell fusion rather than transdifferentiation appears to be the underlying mechanism by which the haematopoietic genome becomes reprogrammed.     

Switching from bone marrow-derived neurons to epithelial cells through dedifferentiation and translineage redifferentiation

While the ability of stem cells to switch lineages has been suggested, the route(s) through which this may happen is unclear. To date, the best characterized adult stem cell population considered to possess transdifferentiation capacity is BM-MSCs (bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells). We investigated whether BM-MSCs that had terminally differentiated into the neural or epithelial lineage could be induced to transdifferentiate into the other phenotype in vitro. Our results reveal that neuronal phenotypic cells derived from adult rat bone marrow cells can be switched to epithelial phenotypic cells, or vice versa, by culture manipulation allowing the differentiated cells to go through, first, dedifferentiation and then redifferentiation to another phenotype. Direct transdifferentiation from differentiated neuronal or epithelial phenotype to the other differentiated phenotype cannot be observed even when appropriate culture conditions are provided. Thus, dedifferentiation appears to be a prerequisite for changing fate and differentiating into a different lineage from a differentiated cell population.     

Ex vivo enrichment of mesenchymal cell progenitors by fibroblast growth factor 2

Bone marrow stromal cells, obtained from postnatal bone marrow, contain progenitors able to differentiate into several mesenchymal lineages. Their use in gene and cell therapy requires their in vitro expansion and calls for the investigation of the culture conditions required to preserve these cells as a stem compartment with high differentiative potential during their life span. Here we report that fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2)-supplemented bone marrow stromal cell primary cultures display an early increase in telomere size followed by a gradual decrease, whereas in control cultures telomere length steadily decreases with increasing population doublings. Together with clonogenic culture conditions, FGF-2 supplementation prolongs the life span of bone marrow stromal cells to more than 70 doublings and maintains their differentiation potential until 50 doublings. These results suggest that FGF-2 in vitro selects for the survival of a particular subset of cells enriched in pluripotent mesenchymal precursors and is useful in obtaining a large number of cells with preserved differentiation potential for mesenchymal tissue repair.     

Nonadhesive populations in cultures of mesenchymal stromal cells from hematopoietic organs in mouse and rat

The study of adhesive properties of multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells evaluated from fibroblast colony-forming units in the bone marrow of adult mice and rats in populations of cells attached and unattached to plastic substrate after 2 h to 7 days in culture demonstrated both similarities and differences. The increase in the fibroblast colony-forming units in the adhesive population peaked on day 7 of in vitro culture in both cases; however, nearly no fibroblast colony-forming units were observed in the nonadhesive population from the mouse bone marrow in this period. Conversely, the number of colonies from the rat bone marrow nonadhesive population on day 7 of culture considerably increased, and this nonadhesive population in long-term culture became the source for subsequent nonadhesive subpopulations containing fibroblast colony-forming units. After 7 days of in vitro culture, the suspension of cells isolated from the liver of 17-day-old rat fetuses also contained a fraction of unattached fibroblast colony-forming units. In the nonadhesive subpopulations from the bone marrow and fetal liver, fibroblast colony-forming units were observed up to day 48 and 30, respectively. Stromal cell precursors of nonadhesive subpopulations from the rat bone marrow featured a period of colony formation reduced to 7 days (i.e., they were formed 1.5-2 times faster compared to the primary culture). The total number of fibroblast colony-forming units from all nonadhesive subpopulations was roughly 6 and 7.4 times that of the adhesive population of the primary culture from the bone marrow and fetal liver, respectively. Considering that the mammalian bone marrow remains the preferred source of mesenchymal stromal cells, using nonadhesive subpopulations in the presented culture system can considerably increase the yield of stromal precursor cells     

Endothelial cell differentiation of human breast tumour stem/progenitor cells

Breast tumour stem cells have been reported to differentiate in the epithelial lineage but a cross-lineage potential has not been investigated. We aimed to evaluate whether breast tumour stem cells were able to differentiate also into the endothelial lineage. We isolated and cloned a population of breast tumour stem cells, cultured as mammospheres that expressed the stem markers nestin and Oct-4 and not epithelial and endothelial differentiation markers, and formed serially transplantable tumours in SCID mice. When cultured in the presence of serum, mammosphere-derived clones differentiated in the epithelial lineage. When cultured in the presence of VEGF, the same clones were also able to differentiate in the endothelial lineage acquiring endothelial markers and properties, such as the ability to organize in Matrigel into capillary-like structures. In the transplanted tumours, originated from mammospheres, we demonstrate that some of the intratumour vessels were of human origin, suggesting an in vivo endothelial differentiation of mammosphere-derived cells. Finally, endothelial cell clones originated from mammospheres were able, when implanted in Matrigel in SCID mice, to form after 7 days a human vessel network and, after 3–4 weeks, an epithelial tumour suggesting that in the endothelial-differentiated cells a tumourigenic stem cell population is maintained. In conclusion, the results of the present study demonstrate that stem cells of breast cancer have the ability to differentiate not only in epithelial but also in endothelial lineage, further supporting the hypothesis that the tumour-initiating population possesses stem cell characteristics relevant for tumour growth and vascularization.     

Abnormal osteogenesis in osteoporotic patients is reflected by altered mesenchymal stem cells dynamics.

Bone marrow contains a population of mesenchymal stem cells with the ability to differentiate into cells that form bone, cartilage, adipose, and other connective tissues. Stem cells can be isolated from bone marrow aspirates and expanded in vitro. Presently, most stem cells studies have been performed in cells obtained from "healthy" control subjects. The goal of this study was to compare the functional characteristics of mesenchymal stem cells derived from "healthy" control and osteoporotic postmenopausal women to better understand the mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of this disease. Osteoporotic and control stem cells have similar morphology and size and express similar cell surface antigens as evidenced by their reactivity with cell specific monoclonal antibodies. Mesenchymal stem cells from osteoporotic women differ from controls in having a lower growth rate than control cells, being refractory to the mitogenic effect of IGF-1, and exhibiting a deficient ability to differentiate into the osteogenic linage as evidenced by the alkaline phosphatase activity and calcium phosphate deposition. We conclude that in osteoporosis stem cell growth, proliferative response and osteogenic differentiation are significantly affected. Also, the study of mesenchymal stem cells from osteoporotic postmenopausal women may provide a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of the osteoporosis. It may also serve to test in vitro in rapid manner novel new therapeutic strategies.     

Isolation and enrichment of skeletal muscle progenitor cells from mouse bone marrow

There is great interest in the therapeutic potential of non-hematopoietic stem cells obtained from bone marrow called mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Rare myogenic progenitor cells in MSC cultures have been shown to convert into skeletal muscle cells in vitro and also in vivo after transplantation of bone marrow into mice. To be clinically useful, however, isolation and expansion of myogenic progenitor cells is important to improve the efficacy of cell transplantation in generating normal skeletal muscle cells. We introduced into MSCs obtained from mouse bone marrow, a plasmid vector in which an antibiotic (Zeocin) resistance gene is driven by MyoD and Myf5 enhancer elements, which are selectively active in skeletal muscle progenitor cells. Myogenic precursor cells were then isolated by antibiotic selection, expanded in culture, and shown to differentiate appropriately into multinucleate myotubes in vitro. Our results show that using a genetic selection strategy, an enriched population of myogenic progenitor cells, which will be useful for cell transplantation therapies, can be isolated from MSCs.     

Clonal mesenchymal stem cells derived from human bone marrow can differentiate into hepatocyte‐like cells in injured livers of SCID mice

There is increasing evidence that human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) can be a valuable, transplantable source of hepatocytes. Most of the hMSCs preparations used in these studies were likely heterogeneous cell populations, isolated by adherence to plastic surfaces or by density gradient centrifugation. Therefore, the participation of other unknown trace cell populations cannot be rigorously discounted. Here we report the isolation and establishment of a cloned human MSC line (chMSC) from human bone marrow primary culture, through which we confirmed the hepatic differentiation capability of authentic hMSCs. chMSCs expressed markers of mesenchymal cells, but not markers of hematopoietic stem cells. In vitro, chMSCs can differentiate into either mesenchymal cells or cells exhibiting hepatocyte‐like phenotypes. When transplanted intrasplentically into carbon tetrachloride‐injured livers of SCID mice, EGFP‐tagged chMSCs engrafted into the host liver parenchyma, exhibited typical hepatocyte morphology, form a three‐dimensional architecture, and differentiate into hepatocyte‐like cells expressing human albumin and α‐1‐anti‐trypsin. By confocal microscopy, ultrafine intercellular nanotubular structures were visible between adjacent transplanted and host hepatocytes. We postulate that these structures may assist in the phenotype conversion of chMSCs, possibly by exchange of cytoplasmic components between native hepatocytes and transplanted cells. Thus, a clonal pure population of hMSCs, which can be expanded in culture, may have potential as a cellular source for substitution damaged cells in hepatic injury. J. Cell. Biochem. 108: 693–704, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Do microRNAs regulate bone marrow stem cell niche physiology?

The adult bone marrow, situated within the bone cavity, comprises three distinct stem cell populations: hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) and endothelial progenitor/stem cells (EPCs). HSCs are a well-characterized population of self-renewing cells that give rise to all blood cells. The definition of MSCs is more complex due to the limited understanding of MSC properties. In general, MSCs are considered multipotent stromal cells that are able to differentiate into various cell types, including osteoblasts, chondrocytes and adipocytes. Compared to HSCs and MSCs, EPCs are a newly discovered population of stem/progenitor cells with the capacity to differentiate into endothelial cells, the cells forming the inner lining of a blood vessel.     

骨髓间质干细胞修复受损心肌研究进展

骨髓间充质干细胞是一种多潜能干细胞。在体外培养时,多种诱导因素可使其分化为心肌细胞等。目前进行的动物实验和临床研究表明骨髓间充质干细胞具有促进血管增生以及改善心肌梗死后心脏功能的作用,为受损心肌的治疗提供了广阔前景。但是其修复受损心肌的机制仍具有很大争议。本文就以上内容进行综述。     

Long-term survival and characterisation of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells on dermal equivalents

During early embryogenesis, mesenchymal cells arise from the primitive epithelium and can revert to an epithelial phenotype by passing through mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET). Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) of the Wharton's Jelly of the umbilical cord (UC-MSC) express pluripotency markers underlining their primitive developmental state. As mesenchymal stem cells from bone marrow (BM-MSC) possess a strong propensity to ameliorate mesenchymal tissue damage, UC-MSC might also be able to differentiate into cells apart from the mesoderm, allowing replacement of ectodermal and mesodermal tissues.     

Adipose‐derived mesenchymal stem cells and regenerative medicine

Adipose tissue‐derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) are multipotent and can differentiate into various cell types, including osteocytes, adipocytes, neural cells, vascular endothelial cells, cardiomyocytes, pancreatic β‐cells, and hepatocytes. Compared with the extraction of other stem cells such as bone marrow‐derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs), that of ADSCs requires minimally invasive techniques. In the field of regenerative medicine, the use of autologous cells is preferable to embryonic stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells. Therefore, ADSCs are a useful resource for drug screening and regenerative medicine. Here we present the methods and mechanisms underlying the induction of multilineage cells from ADSCs.     

间充质干细胞体外分化为多巴胺能神经元的研究进展

骨髓间充质干细胞（MSCs）有来源广泛、易于分离培养、不易引起免疫排斥等特点,使其成为细胞治疗和基因治疗的种子细胞,具有广泛的科研和临床应用价值。骨髓MSCs具有多向分化潜能,在特定条件下能诱导分化成神经元甚至是更为特异的多巴胺能神经元,为帕金森病进行细胞移植疗法提供了理想的细胞来源。本文就近年来体外诱导MSCs向多巴胺能神经元定向分化所涉及到的常用诱导因素和诱导方法及途径予以综述。     

CD271 as a marker to identify mesenchymal stem cells from diverse sources before culture

Mesenchymal stem cells, due to their characteristics are ideal candidates for cellular therapy. Currently, in culture these cells are defined by their adherence to plastic, specific surface antigen expression and multipotent differentiation potential. However, the in vivo identification of mesenchymal stem cells, before culture, is not so well established. Pre-culture identification markers would ensure higher purity than that obtained with selection based on adherence to plastic. Up until now, CD271 has been described as the most specific marker for the characterization andpurification of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. This marker has been shown to be specifically expressed by these cells. Thus, CD271 has been proposed as a versatile marker to selectively isolated and expand multipotent mesenchymal stem cells with both immunosuppressive and lymphohematopoietic engraftment-promoting properties. This review focuses on this marker, specifically on identification of mesenchymal stem cells from different tissues. Literature revision suggests that CD271 should not be defined as a universal marker to identify mesenchymal stem cells before culture from different sources. In the case of bone marrow or adipose tissue, CD271 could be considered a quite suitable marker; however this marker seems to be inadequate for the isolation of mesenchymal stem cells from other tissues such as umbilical cord blood or wharton’s jelly among others.     

再生障碍性贫血患者骨髓间充质干细胞生物学特性的初步研究

目的:研究再生障碍性贫血(aplasticanemia,从)患者骨髓间充质干细胞(mesenchymalstemcells,MSCs)的生物学特性和初步探讨其异常和AA发生的可能关系。方法:取AA患者骨髓间充质干细胞,测定其生长曲线和倍增时间;流式细胞仪检测其细胞周期和免疫表型;体外定向诱导其向脂肪、成骨、内皮和神经细胞分化;用real-timePCR及油红O染色法比较AA和正常对照组MSCs的成脂分化的不同。结果:AA患者和正常成人的MSCs均呈梭形贴壁生长;AA组细胞倍增时间长于对照组;CD105、CD44、CD29、CD106、FlK-1均阳性;96．51％的细胞处在G0／G1期;AA患者的MSCs保持了多向分化潜能,体外诱导形成脂滴较对照组早,诱导早期的脂蛋白脂酶表达增高。结论:再生障碍性贫血患者的骨髓间充质干细胞增殖能力较正常成人弱,骨髓间充质干细胞的易成脂性可能参与了再障的发病环节。