title: Multi-potent progenitors in freshly isolated and cultured human mesenchymal stem cells: a comparison between adipose and dermal tissue.
abstract: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from human adult adipose tissue (A-MSCs) have a better differentiative ability than MSCs derived from the derma (D-MSCs). To test whether this difference is associated with differences in the content of multi-potent progenitors in A-MSCs, the number and the differentiative properties of multi-potent progenitors have been analyzed in various preparations of A-MSCs and D-MSCs. Adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation performed on colony-forming units have revealed that adipogenic and osteogenic progenitors are similar in the two populations, with only a slighty better performance of A-MSCs over D-MSCs from passages p0 to p15. An analysis of the presence of tri-, bi-, uni- and nulli-potent progenitors isolated immediately after isolation from tissues (p0) has shown comparable numbers of tri-potent and bi-potent progenitors in MSCs from the two tissues, whereas a higher content in uni-potent cells committed to adipocytes and a lower content in nulli-potent cells has been observed in A-MSCs. Furthermore, we have characterized the progenitors present in A-MSCs after six passages in vitro to verify the way in which in vitro culture can affect content in progenitor cells. We have observed that the percentage of tri-potent cells in A-MSCs at p6 remains similar to that observed at p0, although bi-potent and uni-potent progenitors committed to osteogenic differentiation increase at p6, whereas nulli-potent cells decrease at p6. These data indicate that the greater differentiative ability of A-MSC populations does not correlate directly with the number of multi-potent progenitors, suggesting that other factors influence the differentiation of bulk populations of A-MSCs.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Medicine Section, Department of Neuroscience, and Center for Stem Cell Research, University of Siena, Via Aldo Moro, 53100, Siena, Italy.
authors.forename: Ivana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Manini
authors.forename: Letizia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gulino
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gava
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pierantozzi
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Curina
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brafa
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: D'Aniello
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sorrentino
mesh_terms: D050156:Adipogenesis; D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000166:cytology*; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002469:Cell Separation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D020405:Dermis / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D010012:Osteogenesis; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*