Deer tongue tissue-derived cells are a novel type of cells that possess characteristics of mesenchymal stem cells

Abstract

Background & Aim The ability of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to differentiate into lineage specific tissue types, homing potential, and tissue repair potential has generated increasing interest in utilizing MSCs to study mechanisms in basic biology, as well as clinical therapeutics. MSCs have been isolated from several species, including human, canine, equine, feline and bovine. Deer MSCs have been isolated from antler and bone marrow. However, MSCs from deer adult tissue such as adipose, skin, tongue and etc. have not been studied. In this study, we performed isolation and characterization of deer tongue epithelium tissue-derived MSCs. Methods, Results & Conclusion Cells were isolated from tongue epithelium tissue according to the general method described in previous studies with minor modifications and further characterized for multipotent properties associated with MSCs. The cells were used for subsequent analyses (flow cytometric analysis, quantitative real-time RT-PCR, and differentiation potentials) at third passage (P3) or P4. We examined their cellular morphology, proliferation properties, expression of cell surface markers, and mesodermal differentiation potentials. The cells had a fibroblast-like spindle shape and formed a highly homogenous monolayer. The cells exhibited significant increase in proliferation during 20 passages under low-glucose DMEM culture condition. The cells expressed pluripotency markers such as Oct4, Sox2, and Nanog as well as cell surface markers such as CD73, CD90, and CD105, but did not express CD34 and CD45. The cells also exhibited the ability to undergo adipogenic, chondrogenic, and osteogenic differentiation. As a result, gene expression levels of collagen type II and PPAR-gamma as chondrocyte and adipocyte-specific markers, respectively, increased in expression in differentiated cells compared to those in undifferentiated cells based on quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Our results suggest that tongue epithelium tissue from deer can be used as a source of MSCs. This study suggests that tongues of deer could be used as a source of deer MSCs.