title: Tendon-derived stem cells undergo spontaneous tenogenic differentiation.
abstract: Tendon-derived stem cell (TDSC) is a subpopulation of residing stem cells within the intact tendon tissues, with the capacities of self-renewal, clonogenicity, and three-lineage differentiation. Compared with bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs), TDSCs are superior for tendon injuries repair as they remain some tendon tissue-specific differentiation properties. In the present study, TDSC was found to undergo spontaneous tenogenic differentiation in which the expression of tenogenic markers were increased while the expression of stemness markers decreased with time in TDSCs culture (without tenogenic induction medium). The further collagen synthesis ability was correspondingly increased during this process. After a longer period of culture, the monolayer of TDSCs formed a "3D" layers with rich extracellular matrices of typical tendon tissues. In addition, the key tenogenic transcription factors, such as Scx, Mkx, Egr1 and Eya1 were all up-regulated in this process. Finally, we compared the spontaneous tenogenic differentiation with TGF-β1-induced tenogenic differentiation of TDSCs, and the results showed that the spontaneous tenogenic differentiation of TDSCs was general character of TDSCs, similar to but weaker than the effect of TDSCs under tenogenic induction. Taken together, the present study identified that TDSCs had the potential of spontaneous tenogenic differentiation, which may be a better cell source for the treatment of tendon injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics & Traumatology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong SAR, PR China.
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics & Traumatology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong SAR, PR China; Lui Che Woo Institute of Innovative Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, PR China; Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Laboratory, Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, PR China; Key Laboratory for Regenerative Medicine, Ministry of Education, School of Biomedical Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, PR China.
authors.forename: Kai-Ming
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics & Traumatology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong SAR, PR China; Lui Che Woo Institute of Innovative Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, PR China; The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen, PR China. Electronic address: zhangjf06@cuhk.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Jin-Fang
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics & Traumatology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong SAR, PR China; Lui Che Woo Institute of Innovative Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, PR China; Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Laboratory, Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, PR China; Key Laboratory for Regenerative Medicine, Ministry of Education, School of Biomedical Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, PR China; The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen, PR China. Electronic address: gangli@cuhk.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D013710:Tendons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1 / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1
keywords: Spontaneous tenogenic differentiation; Tendon; Tendon-derived stem cell (TDSC)