Evaluation of the Ccapability of the Wharton s Jelly Mesenchymal Stem Cell Aggregates to Express the Markers of 3 Germ Cell Lineages

Background and Aim: The ability of stem cells to differentiate intodifferent cell types makes them as a key component of healing damagein regenerative medicine. As human umbilical cord Wharton’s jelly(HUCWJ) are available non-invasively, do not raise any ethical issueswith higher differentiation potential compared to adult stem cells and theability to express embryonic stem cell markers, they can be consideredas a good candidate in regenerative medicine applications. The objectiveof this study was to find if these cells form cell aggregates with the samefeatures with that formed by embryonic stem cells (embryoid body) andcould form three germ layers.Methods: In this study, the umbilical cords were cut into small pieces, andthen the explants were cultivated. Once reached the passage 3rd, about 1000, 5000 and 10.000 cells/ 20μL were cultured as hanging drops for3 days, after which the cells were incubated for an additional 3 days innon-adhesive dishes. As the center of cell aggregates formed from 5000and 10 000 cells was darker than those formed from 1000 cells, this studyfocused on the aggregates formed by 1000 cells for further assessments.The immunocytochemistry and flow cytometry were performed using 3color antibodies to detect the markers of three germ cell lineagesResults: The data showed that the embryoid-body-like aggregatesexpressed a low amount of ectodermal and endodermal markers andmost of the cells expressed mesodermal markers.Conclusion: These aggregates mainly kept their mesenchymal stateand showed a poor differentiation potential toward the ectoderm andendoderm.

کلیدواژه ها:

Wharton’s jelly ، Embryoid-body ، Cell aggregates ، Brachyury ، HAND1 ، GATA4