Effect of stem cell secretory cytokines to chondrocyte progenitor cells

Abstract

According to previous studies, chondrocyte progenitor cells (CPC) found in human osteoarthritis (OA) cartilage
have been demonstrated for chondrogenic potentials and migratory capabilities. CPC have become promising cells
for the treatment of OA. However, CPC cannot proliferate from traumatic cartilage, leading to unrepaired cartilage
after OA damage. Some studies reported for the effect of growth factors/ cytokines in stimulation of CPC
outgrowing from damaged cartilage. Secretory cytokines derived from stem cell culture was known as growth
factors/cytokines enrich. We hypothesized that secretory cytokines obtained from stem cell might stimulate the
outgrowing activity of CPC from OA cartilage.
In this study, cartilage slices were co-cultured with secretory cytokines obtained from culture of amniotic fluid
stem cells (AFS) and Wharton’s jelly stem cells (WJSC) to compare with control medium. The period of cell
outgrowth and numbers of outgrowing from cartilage tissues were observed under inverted microscope. Then,
amount of outgrowing cells was assessed using MTT assay.
The results demonstrated that cartilage tissues cultured under stem cell secretory cytokines displayed rapid
outgrowth. The number of outgrowing cells from cartilage tissues under the culture with AFS secretory factors was
higher than the ones cultured under WJSC secretory cytokines (P = 0.0175) and control medium (P = 0.2992).
Moreover, MTT assay also demonstrated that AFS secretory cytokines had the most effective among other studies
medium (P < 0.05).
We concluded that secretory cytokines in AFS culture medium has a high potential to stimulate CPC outgrowing
from traumatic cartilage tissue in case of OA cartilage.