Articular cartilage is an avascular, aneural connective tissue with exceptionally poor regenerative capacity due to low chondrocyte density and limited proliferation. Current treatments are predominantly symptomatic, prompting regenerative medicine to focus on mesenchymal stem/stromal cell (MSC) therapies. Perinatal tissues offer an ethically acceptable, accessible, and promising source of primary cells with MSC-like properties including chondrogenic potential. This thesis aimed to evaluate and compare the chondrogenic capacity of MSCs from three perinatal tissues across different maternal phenotypes.
The study included 99 samples from 33 donors (each donor contributed three perinatal tissues, i.e. amniotic membrane, decidual placenta and umbilical cord). Following primary MSC isolation, cells were expanded in vitro. Chondrogenesis was assessed using a high-density micromass model mimicking embryonic mesenchymal condensation. Differentiation was induced for 14 days using TGF-β1 supplemented chondrogenic media or control media without TGF-β1 and was evaluated qualitatively via Alcian blue staining of glycosaminoglycans, and quantitatively by spectrophotometric absorbance of the eluted dye.
Initial success of primary cell isolation was the highest for the amniotic membrane, followed by the placenta, and lowest for the umbilical cord. Subsequent culture-expansion saw a sharp decline in viable samples due to cell senescence and contamination; thus, no umbilical cord samples yielded sufficient cells for functional assays. While differentiation was successfully induced in amniotic membrane and placenta samples, the small sample size precluded statistically significant conclusions regarding differences between tissues or maternal clinical properties. However, a clear trend emerged, showing lower chondrogenic efficiency in cells from donors with pregnancy-related comorbidities. Finally, this work highlights the need to optimize the isolation protocol for perinatal primary cells to enable more robust and clinically relevant conclusions.
|