Biological Characteristics of Human-Urine-Derived Stem Cells: Potential for Cell-Based Therapy in Neurology

Abstract

Stem cells in human urine have gained attention in recent years; however, urine-derived stem cells (USCs) are far from being well elucidated. In this study, we compared the biological characteristics of USCs with adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) and investigated whether USCs could serve as a potential cell source for neural tissue engineering. USCs were isolated from voided urine with a modified culture medium. Through a series of experiments, we examined the growth rate, surface antigens, and differentiation potential of USCs, and compared them with ASCs. USCs showed robust proliferation ability. After serial propagation, USCs retained normal karyotypes. Cell surface antigen expression of USCs was similar to ASCs. With lineage-specific induction factors, USCs could differentiate toward the osteogenic, chondrogenic, adipogenic, and neurogenic lineages. To assess the ability of USCs to survive, differentiate, and migrate, they were seeded onto hydrogel scaffold and transplanted into rat brain. The results showed that USCs were able to survive in the lesion site, migrate to other areas, and express proteins that were associated with neural phenotypes. The results of our study demonstrate that USCs possess similar biological characteristics with ASCs and have multilineage differentiation potential. Moreover USCs can differentiate to neuron-like cells in rat brain. The present study shows that USCs are a promising cell source for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

Extracellular Vesicles Secreted by Human Urine-Derived Stem Cells Promote Ischemia Repair in a Mouse Model of Hind-Limb Ischemia

“…We recently confirmed that a subpopulation of cells extracted from voided human urine known as urine-derived stem cells (USCs) have an MSC-like morphology, express MSC surface markers, and maintain a trilineage differentiation capacity in vitro [12,13]. In addition, another team of researchers reported that USCs have the capability to differentiate into endothelial, urothelial and smooth muscle cells [14,15].…”

“…In previous urological studies, USCs were used to construct tissue-engineered conduits for urinary diversion [15] and to ameliorate erectile dysfunction [16,17]. Moreover, we found that USCs combined with bioactive materials accelerated skin-wound healing in rabbits [18] and that USCs can survive in and migrate to other parenchymal areas and differentiate into neuron-like cells in the rat brain [13].…”

“…USCs were isolated from the urine of healthy adult donors, according to the methods described in our previous studies [13,18]. The Ethics Committee of Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital Affiliated with Shanghai Jiaotong University approved the study, and written informed consent was obtained from all the volunteers upon their enrollment in the study.…”

Retracted: Exosomes secreted by human urine‐derived stem cells accelerate skin wound healing by promoting angiogenesis in rat by Yuan H, Guan J, Zhang J, Zhang R, Li M

“…In previous studies, stem-like cells have been extracted from adult urine, which exhibits self-renewal abilities. These cells also showed stem cell markers similar to MSCs with multi-lineage differentiation ability (Fu et al, 2014;Guan et al, 2014;Zhang et al, 2008) and superior proliferation ability. After a serial propagation, hUSCs retained normal karyotypes .…”

Synthesis and characterization of nanosized calcium phosphates by flame spray pyrolysis, and their effect on osteogenic differentiation of stem cells

“…The isolation procedure was performed as described in the literature (Zhang et al 2008;Bharadwaj et al 2011;Guan et al 2014). The cells were cultivated in keratinocyte serum-free medium (KSFM; Invitrogen,USA) and embryonic fibroblast medium in a 1:1 ratio, 10 % heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum, 1 % Pen-Strep antibiotics, and supplemented with 5 ng/ml EGF and 50 ng/ml bovine pituitary extract.…”