Characterization of colony-forming cells in adult human articular cartilage.
Recent studies have shown that adult human articular cartilage contains stem-like cells within the native structure. In this study, we aimed to determine the localization of putative stem cell markers such as CD90, STRO-1, OCT-3/4, CD105 and CD166 in adult human articular cartilage tissue sections and demonstrate the expression of these markers within the expanded surface zone colony-forming (CF) cells and evaluate their differentiation potential. Biopsy samples were either fixed immediately for immunohistochemical analyses or processed for in vitro cell culture. Immunohistochemical and flow cytometry analyses were performed by using CD90, STRO-1, OCT-3/4, CD105 and CD166 antibodies. Isolated colony-forming (CF) cells were further stimulated, by using the appropriate growth factors in their pellet culture, to obtain cartilage, bone and adipose lineages. We observed that the expression of the stem cell markers were in various zones of the human adult cartilage. Flow cytometry results showed that in CF cells the expression of CD90 and CD166 was high, while OCT-3/4 was low. We also determined that CF cells could be stimulated towards cartilage, bone and adipose lineages. The results of this research support the idea that the resident stem-like cells in adult human articular cartilage express these putative stem cell markers, but further experimental investigations are needed to determine the precise localization of these cells.
Department of Histology and Embryology, College of Medicine, Akdeniz University, Antalya 07070, Turkey.
Ozlem
O
Ozbey
Department of Histology and Embryology, College of Medicine, Near East University, Nicosia 922022, Mersin-10, Turkey.
Zeliha
Z
Sahin
Department of Histology and Embryology, College of Medicine, Akdeniz University, Antalya 07070, Turkey.
Nuray
N
Acar
Department of Histology and Embryology, College of Medicine, Akdeniz University, Antalya 07070, Turkey.
Filiz Tepekoy
FT
Ozcelik
Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, College of Medicine, Akdeniz University, Antalya 07070, Turkey.
Alpay Merter
AM
Ozenci
Department of Medical Microbiology, College of Medicine, Akdeniz University, Antalya 07070, Turkey.
Sadi
S
Koksoy
Department of Histology and Embryology, College of Medicine, Akdeniz University, Antalya 07070, Turkey. Electronic address: iustunel@akdeniz.edu.tr.
Ismail
I
Ustunel
D000328:Adult; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000378:metabolism; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000166:cytology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019902:Chondrocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D013234:Stem Cells
D015703:Antigens, CD
Articular cartilage; CD105; CD166; CD90; Colony-forming cells; OCT-3/4; STRO-1