Characterization of stem cells from human ovarian follicular fluid; a potential source of autologous stem cell for cell-based therapy

Human Ovarian Follicular Fluid Mesenchymal Stem Cells Express Osteogenic Markers When Cultured on Bioglass 58S-Coated Titanium Scaffolds

“…The advantage of using this source is that follicular liquid is a human waste material, collected routinely from women undergoing in vitro fertilization treatment and usually discarded after oocyte isolation [ 15 ]. This liquid could be collected in large volumes containing up to millions of MSCs with no impact on the effectiveness of IVF, and would represent a significant alternative source of heterogeneous cell populations with epithelial-like, fibroblast-like and neural-like morphologies [ 15 , 16 , 22 , 26 ]. This human follicular liquid, as we have demonstrated previously, also contains mesenchymal stem cells which exhibit the expression of some specific markers (CD44, CD73, CD90 and CD105 antigens) which are able to differentiate into osteoblasts, chondrocytes and adipocytes [ 15 , 16 ].…”

“…This liquid could be collected in large volumes containing up to millions of MSCs with no impact on the effectiveness of IVF, and would represent a significant alternative source of heterogeneous cell populations with epithelial-like, fibroblast-like and neural-like morphologies [ 15 , 16 , 22 , 26 ]. This human follicular liquid, as we have demonstrated previously, also contains mesenchymal stem cells which exhibit the expression of some specific markers (CD44, CD73, CD90 and CD105 antigens) which are able to differentiate into osteoblasts, chondrocytes and adipocytes [ 15 , 16 ]. It has also been demonstrated that these FF-derived MSCs have a high level of potential to differentiate into oocyte-like cells (OLC) and that this can be increased by the induction of bone morphogenetic protein 15 (BMP15) [ 18 ].…”

“…The liquid itself, following the incubation of the oocyte, is discarded as waste material. This ovarian follicular liquid, however, and as we have demonstrated elsewhere in minimal cell culture conditions, contains a heterogeneous cell population which includes mesenchymal stem cells, epithelial cells and neural-like cells, all of which have been well characterized in terms of morphology and differentiation capacity [ 15 , 16 ]. Other studies have demonstrated the presence of epithelial stem cells which are able to differentiate into oocyte-like cells and into hepatocytes [ 17 ] and also that, interestingly, oocyte-like cells can also be differentiated by mesenchymal stem cells derived from human ovarian follicular fluid after induction with bone morphogenic protein 15 [ 18 ].…”

“…Other studies have demonstrated the presence of epithelial stem cells which are able to differentiate into oocyte-like cells and into hepatocytes [ 17 ] and also that, interestingly, oocyte-like cells can also be differentiated by mesenchymal stem cells derived from human ovarian follicular fluid after induction with bone morphogenic protein 15 [ 18 ]. Our previous data demonstrated that the ovarian-follicular-fluid-derived mesenchymal stem cells contained in ovarian follicular waste fluid expressed the main mesenchymal stemness markers (CD44, CD73, CD90, CD105, CD146 and STRO-1) and can be induced to osteogenic, chondrogenic and adipogenic differentiation [ 15 , 16 ].…”

Follicular renewal and stemness potency of follicular cells depended of telomerase activity and TERT expression – short review

“…In recent years, stem cells have gained much interest in the area of regenerative medicine. There are hopes of using GCs in the future in clinical practice forfertility preservation, in vitro feralization (IVF), and for cell-based therapies in the future [39,40].…”