Abstract
Migration and chondrogenesis of human subchondral cortico-spongious progenitor cells (SPCs) are the key steps in the repair of microfracture-induced articular cartilage defects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of human plasma-derived fibronectin (Fn) on the chondrogenic differentiation of SPCs, which was isolated from subchondrol cortico-spongious bone of late-stage osteoarthritis (OA) patients. SPCs were isolated and cultured for three passages. Stem cell surface antigens of SPCs were analyzed by flow cytometry. The osteogenic, chondrogenic and adipogenic differentiation potential were detected by histological staining. The chondrogenesis potential of SPCs with or without stimulation of either Fn or BMP-2 were studied by immunochemical staining and gene expression analysis. Cells isolated from subchondral bone presented to be positive for CD44, CD73, CD90, and CD166, and showed high capacity of osteogenic, adipogenic and chondrogenic differentiation, which suggested this cell population to be MSC-like cells. Stimulating with Fn increased the expression of SOX-9, aggrecan, collagen II while decreased the formation of collagen I by immunochemical staining. Gene expression analysis showed similar results. These results suggest that plasma-derived Fn can increase the chondrogenic differentiation of SPCs isolated from late-stage OA and improve cartilage repair after microfracture.
Highlights
Osteoarthritis (OA), known as chronic and progressive degenerative arthritis, is the leading cause of chronic disability in countries worldwide [1]
Migration and chondrogenesis of Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from the subchondral area are the key to repair of cartilage defects in microfracture, and finding factors that recruit and promote chondrogenesis of MSCs is an important step in the clinical use of microfracture in OA cartilage defects
In 2013, Kulawig and colleagues reported that plasma-derived fibronectin (Fn) was a key factor in human serum to recruit MSCs and that it might be involved in subchondral MSC migration into cartilage defects after microfracture [6]
Summary
Osteoarthritis (OA), known as chronic and progressive degenerative arthritis, is the leading cause of chronic disability in countries worldwide [1]. By inducing MSCs’ chondrogenic differentiation under special conditions, cartilage repairing in OA seems to be promising [3,4,5,6,7,8] These protocols generally call for three steps: cells harvesting in vivo, MSCs expanding in vitro and MSCs delivering to the lesion site, which would introduce related complications, possible disease transmission and cause high medical burden having to take multiple, complex steps [9]. Minimally invasive microfracture is introduced as a kind of promising “one-step repair technique” which completes MSC harvesting and delivering in one single surgery. Based on all the publications above, we explored the potential role of plasma-derived Fn in stimulating differentiation of MSC from late stage OA knee into chondrocytes
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