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Bone marrow (BM) and umbilical cord (UC) are the major sources of mesenchymal stem cells for therapeutics. This study was aimed to compare the basic biologic characteristics of bone marrow-derived and umbilical cord derived-mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSC and UC-MSC) and their immunosuppressive capability in vitro. The BM-MSC and UC-MSC were cultured and amplified under same culture condition. The growth kinetics, phenotypic characteristics and immunosuppressive effects of UC-MSC were compared with those of BM-MSC.Gene chip was used to compare the genes differentially expressed between UC-MSC and BM-MSC. The results showed that UC-MSC shared most of the characteristics of BM-MSC, including morphology and immunophenotype. UC-MSC could be ready expanded for 30 passages without visible changes. However, BM-MSC grew slowly, and the mean doubling time increased notably after passage 6. Both UC-MSC and BM-MSC could inhibit phytohemagglutinin-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cell proliferation, in which BM-MSC mediated more inhibitory effect. Compared with UC-MSC, BM-MSC expressed more genes associated with immune response. Meanwhile, the categories of up-regulated genes in UC-MSC were concentrated in organ development and growth. It is concluded that the higher proliferation capacity, low human leukocyte antigen-ABC expression and immunosuppression make UC-MSC an excellent alternative to BM-MSC for cell therapy. The differences between BM-MSC and UC-MSC gene expressions can be explained by their ontogeny and different microenvironment in origin tissue. These differences can affect their efficacy in different therapeutic applications.

This study was aimed to investigate the immunomodulatory ability of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UB-MSC) along with prolonging of culture time and increasing of passages in vitro. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) were isolated from human umbilical cord and cultured in vitro. The morphological changes and nucleocytoplasmic ratio of MSC were observed using Giemsa staining. MSC of the 5th passage were selected as control group, and MSC of the 13th passage were taken as senile group. The degree of cell senescence was detected by aging cells in situ test kit. Cell Counting Kit-WST-8 was used to determine the proliferation of lymphocytes in mixed lymphocytes coculture system with different passages of MSC. The expression of immunomodulation-related genes was detected by RT-PCR. The results showed that the length-breadth ratio of MSC increased and nucleocytoplasmic ratio decreased along with the increasing of passages. The senium degree of cells of the 13th passage was higher than that of the 5th passage cells. The capacity of suppressing lymphocyte proliferation of the 13th passage MSC was enhanced, compared with the 5th passage. Moreover, the expression of immunosuppression-related genes of senile MSC increased and the expression of most anti-inflammation associated genes declined as compared with young MSC by RT-PCR. It is concluded that the degree of MSC senescence gradually develops with increasing of culture passage, but the immunosuppressive ability of MSC strengthens with continuous culture.

This study was aimed to compare the proportion of endothelial cells (EC) in human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell (BM-MSC) and human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSC), and to investigate the influence of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) on proportion of EC in MSC. Flow cytometry was used to detect the proportion of CD34(+)CD133(+) and vWF(+)CD31(+) double positive cells in MSC. Wright's staining was employed to observe the influence of VEGF on morphology of MSC. The expressions of CD34, CD133, CD31, vWF were detected by immunofluorescence. qRT-PCR was performed to detect the influence of VEGF on EC marker genes' expression of MSC. The results showed that there were a small amount of EC and endothelial progenitor cells (EPC) in obtained BM-MSC and UC-MSC. After exposed to VEGF 10 ng/ml for 24 h, aspect ratio of MSC and the proportion of EC increased, while proportion of EPC decreased. Expression of EC related marker genes such as Tie-2 and ecNOS up-regulated, especially in UC-MSC. It is concluded that small amount of EC and EPC exists in cultured BM-MSC and UC-MSC, VEGF can enhance the proportion and function of EC in MSC.

This study was purposed to investigate the changes of biological properties and expression patterns of the aging related genes in umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSC) during in vitro culture. UC-MSC at passage 3 were served as the control cells and those at passage 15 were considered as the aged cells. The biological features of those two kinds of cells including morphology, proliferation activity and phenotypic profile were observed, and the differences of gene expression were analysed by the whole human genome oligo microarray. Several differential genes were selected for further confirmation by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The results showed that UC-MSC at passage 15 were larger in size and their proliferation rate was slower compared with those of cells at passage 3, while the positivity of CD44 and CD105 remained unchanged. Compared with UC-MSC at passage 3, relatively aged cells expressed higher levels of genes that are associated with small subunit of ribosome. Further analysis with Gene Ontology functional categories showed that the up-regulated genes were concentrated in those related to steroid biosynthesis, galactose metabolism and the development of autoimmune diseases and degenerative diseases and the down-regulated genes in UC-MSC at passage 15 were concentrated in cytoskeleton molecules, DNA structure binding, mRNA binding and protein function. Functional analysis with Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes functional pathway revealed that the expression of some genes responsible for ribosome composition was elevated while those of associated with extracellular matrix, focal adhesion and cell cycle progression were down-regulated. It is concluded that UC-MSC become senescent due to the declines in metabolism and proliferation activities.

This study was purposed to investigate the effects of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) on proliferation and extracellular matrix (ECM) and gene expressions of human umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSC). The hUC-MSCs were isolated and cultured by transplantation technique from umbilical cords. Surface antigens of the fifth passage cultured hUC-MSCs were detected by flow cytometry. The effects of TGF-β1 0.1 - 20.0 ng/ml on hUC-MSC proliferation were determined by Cell Counting Kit-8. The mRNA expression of ECM components and the components involved in the mechanism of ECM production regulation were detected by qRT-PCR. Expressions of collagen I (Col-I), collagen IV (Col-IV), fibronectin (FN) and laminin (LN) were observed by immunocytochemistry. The gene expression profiles of hUC-MSC in response to TGF-β1 were examined by microarray. The results showed that no significant changes of the OD values were observed with the increasing doses of TGF-β1, while all OD values of 0.1 ng/ml group showed relative peaks at 24, 48 and 72 hour time points. The mRNA expression level of Col-I, MMP-2, MMP-9 and TIMP-2 increased to maximum in 0.5 ng/ml group, and the mRNA expression of Col-IV, FN, LN, Integrin, Tenascin-C, MMP-1 and TIMP-1 reached the peak level in 0.1 ng/ml group. Immunocytochemical analysis for Col-I and Col-IV revealed that their production increased slightly in 0.5 and 0.1 ng/ml groups, respectively, while immunostaining for FN showed diffuse cell membrane and cytoplasmic staining randomly distributed, but LN staining was absent in both groups. Microarray analysis showed that 9 genes closely related to cell movement and migration were up-regulated. Analysis by Pathway and Go indicated that differentially expressed genes were involved in transcription, translation, biosynthesis, metabolism, signal transduction, migration and adhering junction etc. It is concluded that TGF-β1 0.1 ng/ml promotes the proliferation of hUC-MSC. TGF-β1 of different concentrations upregulates the expression of different ECM components. TGF-β1 may play important roles in various aspects of hUC-MSC including transcription, translation, biosynthesis, metabolism, signal transduction, migration and adherens junction and so on.

The study was aimed to investigate the influence of penicillin and streptomycin on proliferation, apoptosis and extracellular secretion (ECS) produced from human umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). MSC were isolated from umbilical cord tissue, then the immunotyping, multipotent differentiation and proliferation of these cells were assayed by cytometry, cytochemistry and MTT respectively. The expressions of ECS and apoptosis-related genes (bcl-2, bax) were detected by quantitative RT-PCR. The results showed that the phenotype of these cells matched with the characteristics of MSC. Penicillin and streptomycin of low concentrations promoted MSC proliferation, with the most effective concentration of 100 U/ml. Expressions of ECS cultured in addition of penicillin and streptomycin were down-regulated. Furthermore, apoptosis-related factor (bcl-2/bax) expression levels in low concentrations penicillin and streptomycin groups were higher than that in the control group. It is concluded that low concentrations penicillin and streptomycin can promote the proliferation and reduce the apoptotic rate, but high dose can inhibit the ECS component expression of MSC.