Mesenchymal stem cells in the Wharton's jelly of the human umbilical cord.
The Wharton's jelly of the umbilical cord contains mucoid connective tissue and fibroblast-like cells. Using flow cytometric analysis, we found that mesenchymal cells isolated from the umbilical cord express matrix receptors (CD44, CD105) and integrin markers (CD29, CD51) but not hematopoietic lineage markers (CD34, CD45). Interestingly, these cells also express significant amounts of mesenchymal stem cell markers (SH2, SH3). We therefore investigated the potential of these cells to differentiate into cardiomyocytes by treating them with 5-azacytidine or by culturing them in cardiomyocyte-conditioned medium and found that both sets of conditions resulted in the expression of cardiomyocyte markers, namely N-cadherin and cardiac troponin I. We also showed that these cells have multilineage potential and that, under suitable culture conditions, are able to differentiate into cells of the adipogenic and osteogenic lineages. These findings may have a significant impact on studies of early human cardiac differentiation, functional genomics, pharmacological testing, cell therapy, and tissue engineering by helping to eliminate worrying ethical and technical issues.
Wang
Hwai-Shi
HS
Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China. hswang@ym.edu.tw
Hung
Shih-Chieh
SC
Peng
Shu-Tine
ST
Huang
Chun-Chieh
CC
Wei
Hung-Mu
HM
Guo
Yi-Jhih
YJ
Fu
Yu-Show
YS
Lai
Mei-Chun
MC
Chen
Chin-Chang
CC
D017667:Adipocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D015703:Antigens, CD; D018952:Antigens, CD34 / Q000096:biosynthesis; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D000071063:Endoglin; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors / Q000096:biosynthesis; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017493:Leukocyte Common Antigens / Q000096:biosynthesis; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D012313:RNA / Q000378:metabolism; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014470:Umbilical Cord / Q000166:cytology*; D019010:Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 / Q000096:biosynthesis
D015703:Antigens, CD; D018952:Antigens, CD34; C064206:ENG protein, human; D000071063:Endoglin; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D019010:Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1; D012313:RNA; D017493:Leukocyte Common Antigens