IADR Abstract Archives
Oral Mucosa Derived-Stem Cells Do Not Age
Objectives: To test the effect of donor aging on the potency of human oral mucosa derived stem cell cultures – hOMSC.
Methods: hOMSC derived from biopsies of elderly (>65 years) donors - hOMSC-E and from young (<25 years) donors - hOMSC-Y were analyzed for: growth and clonogenicity; expression of ESC, neural crest SC and MSC markers and pro- and anti- apoptotic markers by qRT-PCR, flow cytometry (FC), and Immunofluorescence; growth factor secretion by ELISA; and differentiation potential along osteoblastic, definitive endoderm and neural lineages.
Results: We found that donor aging affected negligibly the clonogenicity and cumulative population doublings of hOMSC-E and did not influence the expression of the ESC and neural crest SC markers Oct4, Sox2, Nanog, c-Myc and Klf4, Snail1 and Twist, respectively at the gene and protein level. Moreover, the expression levels of the pro-apoptotic genes p53, p21 and p16 and the anti-apoptotic genes Mdm2, Tbx2 and c-Myc were similar for hOMSC-E and hOMSC-Y cultures. qRT-PCR and ELISA analyses revealed similar expression and secretion levels of NGF, FGF2 and VEGF in both hOMSC-E and hOMSC-Y cultures. However, BDNF levels were 30% higher in hOMSC-Y compared to hOMSC-E. The capacity of hOMSC-E to differentiate along osteoblastic, definitive endoderm, glial and neuronal lineages as assessed by determining the expression of lineage specific markers was similar to that of hOMSC-Y.
Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, in contrast to published data on the deleterious effect of aging on the potency of adult stem cells, this is the first report demonstrating that donor aging does not affect the potency of adult hOMSC. The data suggest that hOMSC are excellent candidates for autologous stem cell therapy in the adult and elderly.
Methods: hOMSC derived from biopsies of elderly (>65 years) donors - hOMSC-E and from young (<25 years) donors - hOMSC-Y were analyzed for: growth and clonogenicity; expression of ESC, neural crest SC and MSC markers and pro- and anti- apoptotic markers by qRT-PCR, flow cytometry (FC), and Immunofluorescence; growth factor secretion by ELISA; and differentiation potential along osteoblastic, definitive endoderm and neural lineages.
Results: We found that donor aging affected negligibly the clonogenicity and cumulative population doublings of hOMSC-E and did not influence the expression of the ESC and neural crest SC markers Oct4, Sox2, Nanog, c-Myc and Klf4, Snail1 and Twist, respectively at the gene and protein level. Moreover, the expression levels of the pro-apoptotic genes p53, p21 and p16 and the anti-apoptotic genes Mdm2, Tbx2 and c-Myc were similar for hOMSC-E and hOMSC-Y cultures. qRT-PCR and ELISA analyses revealed similar expression and secretion levels of NGF, FGF2 and VEGF in both hOMSC-E and hOMSC-Y cultures. However, BDNF levels were 30% higher in hOMSC-Y compared to hOMSC-E. The capacity of hOMSC-E to differentiate along osteoblastic, definitive endoderm, glial and neuronal lineages as assessed by determining the expression of lineage specific markers was similar to that of hOMSC-Y.
Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, in contrast to published data on the deleterious effect of aging on the potency of adult stem cells, this is the first report demonstrating that donor aging does not affect the potency of adult hOMSC. The data suggest that hOMSC are excellent candidates for autologous stem cell therapy in the adult and elderly.