Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) represent a promising alternative form of cell-based therapy for cartilage injury. However, the capacity of MSCs for chondrogenesis has not been fully explored. In particular, there is presently a lack of studies comparing the effectiveness of MSCs to conventional autologous chondrocyte (autoC) treatment for regeneration of full-thickness cartilage defects in vivo.
Chondrogenic differentiated mesenchymal stem cells (CMSCs) have been shown to produce superior chondrogenic expression markers in vitro. However, the use of these cells in vivo has not been fully explored. In this study, in vivo assessment of cartilage repair potential between allogenic-derived chondrogenic pre-differentiated mesenchymal stem cells and undifferentiated MSCs (MSCs) were compared. Bilateral full thickness cartilage defects were created on the medial femoral condyles of 12 rabbits (n = 12). Rabbits were divided into two groups. In one group, the defects in the right knees were repaired using alginate encapsulated MSCs while in the second group, CMSCs were used. The animals were sacrificed and the repaired and control knees were assessed at 3 and 6 months after implantation. Quantitative analysis was performed by measuring the Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs)/total protein content. The mean Brittberg score was higher in the transplanted knees as compared to the untreated knee at 6 months (p 0.05). This study demonstrates that the use of either MSC or CMSC produced superior healing when compared to cartilage defects that were untreated. However, both cells produced comparable treatment outcomes.
The staggering number of publications featuring the use of stem cells has revolutionized regenerative medicine research. Preclinical studies indicate that allogeneic human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) may be useful for the treatment of several clinical disorders, including sepsis, acute renal failure, acute myocardial infarction, and more recently, acute lung injury (ALI). However, considerable success would not be obtained in clinical trials due to poor survival of transplanted cells under the influence of inflammatory conditions. Despite robust approaches like cellular reprogramming, scaffolds and conditioned media have been tested to overcome this problem; however the success rate of these approaches remain questionable. Recently, pretreatment of bioactive compounds in vitro have been shown to suppress cell apoptosis and promote cell survival. Quite likely a similar phenomenon can take place in vivo. Based on such studies, we hypothesize that MSCs derived from human post-natal tissues could be conditioned and prepared for targeted disease therapy. Depending on the disease condition, the MSCs could be treated prior to delivery with appropriate bioactive compounds to allow them survive longer and perform a better role as biocatalyst. The advantage of this approach could be the tailor made availability of MSCs preconditioned with appropriate bioactive compounds for disease specific therapy. Therefore, the choice of suitable bioactive molecule is likely to enhance the efficacy of targeted stem cell therapy and preconditioning may provide a novel strategy in maximizing biological and functional properties of MSCs.
Bone marrow (BM) mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) represent a novel therapy for severe heart failure with extensive myocardial scarring, especially when performed concurrently with conventional revascularization. However, stem cells are difficult to transport in culture media without risk of contamination, infection and reduced viability. We tested the feasibility and safety of off-site MSC culture and expansion with freeze-controlled cryopreservation and subsequent rapid thawing of cells immediately prior to implantation to treat severe dilated ischemic cardiomyopathy.