BackgroundMesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are an attractive source of stem cells for clinical applications. These cells exhibit a multilineage differentiation potential and strong capacity for immune modulation. Thus, MSCs are widely used in cell therapy, tissue engineering, and immunotherapy. Because of important advantages, umbilical cord blood-derived MSCs (UCB-MSCs) have attracted interest for some time. However, the applications of UCB-MSCs are limited by the small number of recoverable UCB-MSCs and fetal bovine serum (FBS)-dependent expansion methods. Hence, this study aimed to establish a xenogenic and allogeneic supplement-free expansion protocol.MethodsUCB was collected to prepare activated platelet-rich plasma (aPRP) and mononuclear cells (MNCs). aPRP was applied as a supplement in Iscove modified Dulbecco medium (IMDM) together with antibiotics. MNCs were cultured in complete IMDM with four concentrations of aPRP (2, 5, 7, or 10%) or 10% FBS as the control. The efficiency of the protocols was evaluated in terms of the number of adherent cells and their expansion, the percentage of successfully isolated cells in the primary culture, surface marker expression, and in vitro differentiation potential following expansion.ResultsThe results showed that primary cultures with complete medium containing 10% aPRP exhibited the highest success, whereas expansion in complete medium containing 5% aPRP was suitable. UCB-MSCs isolated using this protocol maintained their immunophenotypes, multilineage differentiation potential, and did not form tumors when injected at a high dose into athymic nude mice.ConclusionThis technique provides a method to obtain UCB-MSCs compliant with good manufacturing practices for clinical application.

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Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) transplantation is a novel treatment for diabetes mellitus, especially type 1 diabetes. Many recent publications have demonstrated the efficacy of MSC transplantation on reducing blood glucose and increasing insulin production in both preclinical and clinical trials. However, the investigation of grafted cell doses has been lacking. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the different doses of MSCs on treatment of type 1 diabetes in mouse models. MSCs were isolated and expanded from human adipose tissue. Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice were divided into two groups that were intravenously transfused with two different doses of human MSCs: 10 or 2.10 cells/mouse. After transplantation, both grafted and placebo mice were monitored weekly for their blood glucose levels, glucose and insulin tolerance, pancreatic structural changes, and insulin production for 56 days after transplantation. The results showed that the higher dose of MSCs (2.10 cells/mouse) remarkably reduced death rate. The death rates were 50%, 66%, and 0% in placebo group, low-dose (1.10 MSCs) group, and high-dose (2.10 MSCs) group, respectively, after 56 days of treatment. Moreover, blood glucose levels were lower for the high-dose group compared to other groups. Glucose and insulin tolerance, as well as insulin production, were significantly improved in mice transplanted with 2.10 cells. The histochemical analyses also support these results. Thus, a higher (e.g., 2.10) dose of MSCs may be an effective dose for treatment of type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Abstract-Diabetes mellitus is a high incidence disease that has increased rapidly in recent years. Many new therapies are being studied and developed in order to find an effective treatment. An ideal candidate is stem cell therapy. In this study, we investigated the differentiation of adipose derived stem cells (ADSCs) into pseudo-islets in defined medium in vitro, to produce large quantities of insulin-producing cells (IPCs) for transplantation. ADSCs isolated from adipose tissue were induced to differentiate into islet-like insulin-producing cell clusters in vitro by inducing medium DMEM/F12 containing nicotinamide, N2, B27, bFGF, and insulin-transferrin-selenite (ITS). Differentiated cells were analyzed for properties of IPCs, including storage of Zn 2+ by dithizone staining, insulin production by ELISA and immunochemistry, and beta cell-related gene expression by reverse transcriptase PCR. The results showed that after 2 weeks of differentiation, the ADSCs aggregated into cell clusters, and after 4 weeks they formed islets, 50-400 micrometers in diameter. These islet cells exhibited characteristics of pancreatic beta cells as they were positive for dithizone staining, expressed insulin in vitro and C-peptide in the cytoplasm, and expressed pancreatic beta cellspecific genes, including Pdx-1, NeuroD, and Ngn3. These results demonstrate that ADSCs can be used to produce a large number of functional islets for research as well as application.