Summary
Autologous bone marrow plays an increasing role in the treatment of bone, cartilage
and tendon healing disorders. Cell-based therapies display promising results in the
support of local regeneration, especially therapies using intra-operative one-step
treatments with autologous progenitor cells. In the present study, bone marrow-derived
cells were concentrated in a point-of-care device and investigated for their mesenchymal
stem cell (MSC) characteristics and their osteogenic potential.
Bone marrow was harvested from the iliac crest of 16 minipigs. The mononucleated cells
(MNC) were concentrated by gradient density centrifugation, cultivated, characterized
by flow cytometry and stimulated into osteoblasts, adipocytes, and chondrocytes. Cell
differentiation was investigated by histological and immunohistological staining of
relevant lineage markers. The proliferation capacity was determined via colony forming
units of fibroblast and of osteogenic alkaline-phosphatase-positive-cells.
The MNC could be enriched 3.5-fold in nucleated cell concentrate in comparison to
bone marrow. Flow cytometry analysis revealed a positive signal for the MSC markers.
Cells could be differentiated into the three lines confirming the MSC character. The
cellular osteogenic potential correlated significantly with the percentage of newly
formed bone in vivo in a porcine metaphyseal long-bone defect model.
This study demonstrates that bone marrow concentrate from minipigs display cells with
MSC character and their osteogenic differentiation potential can be used for osseous
defect repair in autologous transplantations.
Keywords
Mesenchymal stem cells - minipig - bone marrow concentrate - colony forming units