title: Ex vivo enrichment of mesenchymal cell progenitors by fibroblast growth factor 2.
abstract: Bone marrow stromal cells, obtained from postnatal bone marrow, contain progenitors able to differentiate into several mesenchymal lineages. Their use in gene and cell therapy requires their in vitro expansion and calls for the investigation of the culture conditions required to preserve these cells as a stem compartment with high differentiative potential during their life span. Here we report that fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2)-supplemented bone marrow stromal cell primary cultures display an early increase in telomere size followed by a gradual decrease, whereas in control cultures telomere length steadily decreases with increasing population doublings. Together with clonogenic culture conditions, FGF-2 supplementation prolongs the life span of bone marrow stromal cells to more than 70 doublings and maintains their differentiation potential until 50 doublings. These results suggest that FGF-2 in vitro selects for the survival of a particular subset of cells enriched in pluripotent mesenchymal precursors and is useful in obtaining a large number of cells with preserved differentiation potential for mesenchymal tissue repair.
authors.affiliation: Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro, Genova, Italy.
authors.forename: Giordano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bianchi
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Banfi
authors.forename: Maddalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mastrogiacomo
authors.forename: Rosario
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Notaro
authors.forename: Lucio
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Luzzatto
authors.forename: Ranieri
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cancedda
authors.forename: Rodolfo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Quarto
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D002452:Cell Count; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002999:Clone Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008648:Mesoderm / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D008875:Middle Aged; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000637:transplantation; D019098:Telomerase / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D016615:Telomere / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2; D019098:Telomerase