Wharton's jelly-derived mesenchymal cells as a new source for the generation of microtissues for tissue engineering applications.
Histochem Cell Biol
; 150(4): 379-393, 2018 Oct.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-29931444
ABSTRACT
Microtissues (MT) are currently considered as a promising alternative for the fabrication of natural, 3D biomimetic functional units for the construction of bio-artificial substitutes by tissue engineering (TE). The aim of this study was to evaluate the possibility of generating mesenchymal cell-based MT using human umbilical cord Wharton's jelly stromal cells (WJSC-MT). MT were generated using agarose microchips and evaluated ex vivo during 28 days. Fibroblasts MT (FIB-MT) were used as control. Morphometry, cell viability and metabolism, MT-formation process and ECM synthesis were assessed by phase-contrast microscopy, functional biochemical assays, and histological analyses. Morphometry revealed a time-course compaction process in both MT, but WJSC-MT resulted to be larger than FIB-MT in all days analyzed. Cell viability and functionality evaluation demonstrated that both MT were composed by viable and metabolically active cells, especially the WJSC during 4-21 days ex vivo. Histology showed that WJSC acquired a peripheral pattern and synthesized an extracellular matrix-rich core over the time, what differed from the homogeneous pattern observed in FIB-MT. This study demonstrates the possibility of using WJSC to create MT containing viable and functional cells and abundant extracellular matrix. We hypothesize that WJSC-MT could be a promising alternative in TE protocols. However, future cell differentiation and in vivo studies are still needed to demonstrate the potential usefulness of WJSC-MT in regenerative medicine.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Tissue Engineering
/
Wharton Jelly
/
Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Limits:
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Histochem Cell Biol
Journal subject:
CITOLOGIA
/
HISTOCITOQUIMICA
Year:
2018
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Spain