Speaker
Description
Their regenerative potential and immunomodulatory effects have made mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) prime candidates for use in tissue engineering and stem cell therapies. The first step for any of these therapies is the isolation and expansion of cells from donor tissue. Adipose tissue comprises an auspicious source of MSCs as it is easily available and can be harvested with low donor site morbidity. During standard isolation procedures, MSCs are selected by adherence to a 2D plastic surface which might exclude certain subpopulations of MSCs and most importantly is far away from the physiological environment of the cells. Indeed, it is known that MSCs loose therapeutically relevant properties, such as proliferation capacity and immunogenicity, during 2D in vitro cultivation. By contrast, these physiologic properties are enhanced when MSCs are cultured in an in vivo-like 3D environment, and providing the cells with 3D environment already during isolation might have positive effects on cellular behavior and functionality. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop an improved hydrogel formulation for the direct isolation of MSCs from adipose tissue into a 3D environment using different combinations of a human platelet lysate matrix (PLM), sodium alginate, alginate di-aldehyde and gelatin. PLM allowed for robust outgrowth of cells into and retrieval from the hydrogel with a higher efficiency compared to 2D procedures. Further, the harvested cell population was characterized as MSCs according to the standardized criteria proposed by the International Society for Cellular Therapy (ISCT), by retaining stemness marker expression on their cell surface and differentiation capacity into adipogenic, osteogenic and chondrogenic lineage. The evaluation of further hydrogel formulations is currently ongoing in order to improve mechanical stability of the hydrogels and investigate influence of biomaterial stiffness on cell migration behavior.
| Speaker Country | Austria |
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