Open AccessCharacterization and Comparison of Postnatal Rat Meniscus Stem Cells at Different Developmental Stages
Author(s) -
He Shaoqi,
Ruan Dengfeng,
Chen Yangwu,
Ran Jisheng,
Chen Xiao,
Yin Zi,
Tang Chenqi,
Huang Jiayun,
Heng Boon Chin,
Chen Jialin,
Chen Weishan,
Shen Weiliang,
Ouyang Hongwei
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
stem cells translational medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.781
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 2157-6580
pISSN - 2157-6564
DOI - 10.1002/sctm.19-0125
Subject(s) - meniscus , tissue engineering , cartilage , chondrogenesis , stem cell , microbiology and biotechnology , mesenchymal stem cell , transplantation , anatomy , biology , regeneration (biology) , chemistry , medicine , surgery , genetics , optics , physics , incidence (geometry)
Meniscus‐derived stem cells (MeSCs) are a potential cell source for meniscus tissue engineering. The stark morphological and structural changes of meniscus tissue during development indicate the complexity of MeSCs at different tissue regions and stages of development. In this study, we characterized and compared postnatal rat meniscus tissue and MeSCs at different tissue regions and stages of development. We observed that the rat meniscus tissue exhibited marked changes in tissue morphology during development, with day 7 being the most representative time point of different developmental stages. All rat MeSCs displayed typical stem cell characteristics. Rat MeSCs derived from day 7 inner meniscus tissue exhibited the highest self‐renewal capacity, cell proliferation, differentiation potential toward various mesenchymal lineage and the highest expression levels of chondrogenic genes and proteins. Transplantation of rat MeSCs derived from day 7 inner meniscus tissue promoted neo‐tissue formation and effectively protected joint surface cartilage in vivo. Our results demonstrated for the first time that rat MeSCs are not necessarily better at earlier developmental stages, and that rat MeSCs derived from day 7 inner meniscus tissue may be a superior cell source for effective meniscus regeneration and articular cartilage protection. This information could make a significant contribution to human meniscus tissue engineering in the future. Stem Cells Translational Medicine 2019;8:1318&1329