title: Co-culture with Sertoli cells promotes proliferation and migration of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells.
abstract: Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) have been recently used in transplant therapy. The proliferation and migration of MSCs are the determinants of the efficiency of MSC transplant therapy. Sertoli cells are a kind of "nurse" cells that support the development of sperm cells. Recent studies show that Sertoli cells promote proliferation of endothelial cells and neural stem cells in co-culture. We hypothesized that co-culture of UCMSCs with Sertoli cells may also promote proliferation and migration of UCMSCs. To examine this hypothesis, we isolated UCMSCs from human cords and Sertoli cells from mouse testes, and co-cultured them using a Transwell system. We found that UCMSCs exhibited strong proliferation ability and potential to differentiate to other cell lineages such as osteocytes and adipocytes. The presence of Sertoli cells in co-culture significantly enhanced the proliferation and migration potential of UCMSCs (P<0.01). Moreover, these phenotypic changes were accompanied with upregulation of multiple genes involved in cell proliferation and migration including phospho-Akt, Mdm2, phospho-CDC2, Cyclin D1, Cyclin D3 as well as CXCR4, phospho-p44 MAPK and phospho-p38 MAPK. These findings indicate that Sertoli cells boost UCMSC proliferation and migration potential.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Sanquan College, Xinxiang Medical University, Henan 453003, People's Republic of China. fxzhang0824@gmail.com
authors.forename: Fenxi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Wenmei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Tongming
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Suhua
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jing
authors.forename: Juntang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D017667:Adipocytes / Q000166:cytology; D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002465:Cell Movement; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D010006:Osteoblasts / Q000166:cytology; D012708:Sertoli Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D014470:Umbilical Cord / Q000166:cytology*