Potential differentiation of human amniotic epithelial stem and mesenchymal bone marrow cells into cardiomyocytes
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of cardiovascular mortality worldwide and stem cell transplantation is one of the approaches in the treatment of CAD (Leri et al., 2008; Laflamme and Murry, 2011).Realization of regenerative cardiac medicine is dependent on the availability of ca...
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Format: | Thesis |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2015
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Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/64065/1/IB%202015%2024IR.pdf http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/64065/ |
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Summary: | Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of cardiovascular mortality worldwide
and stem cell transplantation is one of the approaches in the treatment of CAD (Leri et al.,
2008; Laflamme and Murry, 2011).Realization of regenerative cardiac medicine is
dependent on the availability of cardiomyocytes in sufficient numbers for transplantation.
Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) have been used in clinical cell therapy
and injecting BM-MSCS into mouse with Kaposi’s sarcoma resulted in reduced tumour.
However the same cells have been reported to promote tumour growth when injected in
mouse with osteosarcoma which also promoted pulmonary metastasis.
The amnion is a simple epithelium resting on a connective tissue layer comprising of
collagen fibers and fibroblasts. The amnion has two groups of stem cells. The first group are
surface epithelial cells with pluripotent properties; the second group are stromal cells with
mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) properties in the underlying connective tissue of the
amnion. Pluripotent cells are capable of giving rise to various body cell types similar to
those of the three germ layers of the early embryo. MSCs have at least three primary
characteristics: these cells grow as adherent cells in tissue culture dish; have a life span of 30
to 50 population doubling number and in vitro these cells could differentiate into osteoblasts,
chondroblasts, and adipocytes.
In view of the above amnion which form part of the placenta and discarded following child
birth is therefore a useful biological material as it is a source of cells for transplantation. In
the search for a source of cardiomyocytes for transplantation the present study investigates
into the characteristics and potential of human amniotic epithelial cells (hAECs) to
differentiate into cardiomyocytes. The characteristics and differentiation potential of the
hAECs are concurrently compared with that of BM-MSCs, the gold standard in cell therapy.
hAECs and BM-MSCs were isolated from the amniotic membrane and bone marrow,
respectively and their cell surface antigens characterized based on flow cytometry, culture
properties and colony formation. The proliferation rates of hAECs and BM-MSCs were
calculated based on population doubling time, while adipogenic and osteogenic
differentiation potentials were confirmed by the oil red O and alizarin red S staining
methods, respectively. In addition, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was determined
using a colorimetric assay kit. The hAECs and BM-MSCs were then differentiated into
cardiomyocytes in a cardiogenic medium containing 3µM 5-azacytidine. The differentiated
cardiomyocyte were compared with normal cardiomyocytes by focusing on their specific
protein expressions while their structural properties were determined by transmission
electron microscopy. Results showed that both hAECs and BM-MSCs expressed MSCs factors. The expression of
CD73, CD105, and CD90 in hAECs was 77.3%±4.9%, 78.3%±7.2% and 87.7%±3.1%
respectively while in the BM-MSCs the expression for the same factor was 82%±4%,
80%±8.3% and 83.3%±2.9%, respectively. hAECs and BM-MSCs on the other hand did not
express hematopoietic stem cell factors. The expression of CD34 and CD45in hAECs was
6%±1.1% and 5.5%±1.5% respectively while in the BM-MSCs expression for the same
factor was 4.5%±0.5% and 5%±1%, respectively. No significant differences in
mesenchymal and hematopoietic stem cells factors expression was observed between the
two groups of cells. The low expression of CD34 and CD45 in the hAECs and BM-MSCs
showed that these cells were not contaminated with cord blood or embryo or bone marrow
hematopoietic cells.
Results from the present study also demonstrated that the hAECs expressed embryonic stem
cell markers where the expression of OCT4 in these cells was 73%±11% while in the BMMSCs
the expression for the same marker was 19%±2%; there was thus a significant
difference between the two cell types (p<0.001). From these data it can be deduced that the
hAECs are pluripotent while the BM-MSCs are multi potent with the potential to
differentiate into derivatives of two germ layers.
Both hAECs and BM-MSCs could possibly differentiate into adipogenic cells as indicated
by the positive Oil Red O staining (over 70% and 50% respectively). Both cell types also
demonstrated the potential to differentiate into osteogenic cells as evidenced by positive
alizarin red staining (over 35% and 55%, respectively) with significant difference (p<0.01)
between the two cell types. hAECs one week after primary culture and BM-MSCs two
weeks after primary culture formed colonies with alkaline phosphatase activities.
The use of 5-Azacytidine at 3µM concentration demonstrated that both hAECs and BMMSCs
could possibly differentiate into cardiomyocytes. Based on this observation on their
differentiation potential the structural organization of both cell types were examined at the
ultra-structural level. These differentiated cells showed initially the formation of
unorganized myofibrils and subsequently to organized and parallel myotubes. The genotypes
of these cells were determined by immunocytochemistry staining. The antibodies against
alpha-actin, connexin43, N-cadherin, desmin, nestin and vimentin were used to identify
differentiated cells. The induced hAECs and BM-MSCs expressed specific cardiomyocyte
proteins in the form of alpha-actin (55% and 44% respectively) and connexin43 (80% and
70% respectively) which were similar to that of normal cardiomyocyte. The quantitative
real-time RT-PCR indicated that there were no statistical significant differences between the
expression of GATA-4, MLC-2a, MLC-2v, cTnI and connexin-43 in induced hBM-MSCs
and hAECs with neonatal heart tissue.
From the above result it can be concluded that the hAECs possess stem cells properties
similar to that of BM-MSCs and express some pluripotent and embryonic markers at a level
higher than BM-MSCs. In addition hAECs are similar to BM-MSCs where, both groups that
of could differentiate into osteocyte and adipocyte; however, hAECs have a greater the
tendency to differentiate into adipocyte, while BM-MSCs have a greater the tendency to
differentiate into osteocyte. When these cells are induced into cardiomyocyte both hAECs
and BM-MSCs showed similarities to cardiomyocytes such as the formation of unorganized
myofibrils to organized, parallel myotubes and expressed cardiomyocyte specific genes and
protein markers. Hence, hAECs could be a suitable substitute in heart cell transplantation
instead of BM-MSCs. |
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