Plasticity of Fetal Cartilaginous Cells

Abstract

Tissue-specific stem cells found in adult tissues can participate in the repair process following injury. However, adult tissues, such as articular cartilage and intervertebral disc, have low regeneration capacity, whereas fetal tissues, such as articular cartilage, show high regeneration ability. The presence of fetal stem cells in fetal cartilaginous tissues and their involvement in the regeneration of fetal cartilage is unknown. The aim of the study was to assess the chondrogenic differentiation and the plasticity of fetal cartilaginous cells. We compared the TGF-β3-induced chondrogenic differentiation of human fetal cells isolated from spine and cartilage tissues to that of human bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC). Stem cell surface markers and adipogenic and osteogenic plasticity of the two fetal cell types were also assessed. TGF-β3 stimulation of fetal cells cultured in high cell density led to the production of aggrecan, type I and II collagens, and variable levels of type X collagen. Although fetal cells showed the same pattern of surface stem cell markers as BMSCs, both type of fetal cells had lower adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation capacity than BMSCs. Fetal cells from femoral head showed higher adipogenic differentiation than fetal cells from spine. These results show that fetal cells are already differentiated cells and may be a good compromise between stem cells and adult tissue cells for a cell-based therapy.

Origin and function of cartilage stem/progenitor cells in osteoarthritis

“…Identification, isolation and characterization of CSPCs have been based on a | expression of stem-cell-related surface markers (individually and in combination, under various conditions) and b | properties such as clonogenicity and multipotency. 6,7,8 Migratory activity of CSPCs has also been found in response to injury 31 and in late-stage OA cartilage. 32 Abbreviations: CSPC, cartilage stem/progenitor cell; OA, osteoarthritis.…”

“…The self-renewal capacity of the cells was verified on the basis of the colony-forming unit (CFU) test 7,32 and the generation of side populations (as identified by Hoechst dye exclusion on flow cytometry). 6,30 The Archer group also reported longer telomere length and higher telomerase activity in the clonally derived cells, compared with chondrocytes isolated from the full depth of the articular cartilage, after many population-doublings, 6 further corroborating their self-renewal ability.…”

“…Quintin et al . 7 reported the isolation of cells capable of multilineage differentiation from human fetal femurs at weeks 14–16 of embryogenesis, and Wu et al . 38 used microdissection to identify different subpopulations of cartilage-forming cells in human embryonic limb buds.…”

Human chondroprogenitors in alginate-collagen hybrid scaffolds produce stable cartilagein vivo

“…As cartilage is avascular and alymphatic, and therefore immunoprivileged, allogeneic adult chondrocytes can be considered and indeed have shown promising results in clinics (Almqvist et al , ; Dhollander et al , ). Allogeneic cells derived from fetal or juvenile tissue have the additional benefit of a higher chondrogenic potential compared to adult chondrocytes (Adkisson et al , ), along with a potentially more stable phenotype than that of pluripotent MSCs (Quintin et al , ; Acosta et al , ).…”

Derivation, characterization and expansion of fetal chondrocytes on different microcarriers

“…Because of this limited differentiation capacity and the high expansion potential, these cells are demonstrating significant therapeutic potential for cell-based articular cartilage repair Doran 2005, 2006) just like stem cells derived from adult cartilage (Dowthwaite et al 2004;Martin et al 2005;Melero-Martin et al 2006). FCs can become an alternative source for a cell-based therapy for cartilage disorders (Pioletti et al 2006;Montjovent et al 2009;Quintin et al 2010).…”