Wharton's Jelly Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Differentiation Capacity Showing its Role in Bone Tissue Engineering

Abstract

Wharton's jelly mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSCs) is one of the best sources of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that suggest both embryonic and adult stem cell characteristics. Before being applied in clinical application, the isolated MSCs should be tested to assess their quality, including differentiation capacity, phenotype characterization, and morphological appearance. This research aims to quantify the differentiation capacity of WJ-MSCs isolated using explant method. The WJ-MSCs cells were grown out from Wharton's jelly tissue and the isolated cells adhered in T25 plastic flask. The isolated cells expressed high amount of MSC surface marker which are CD105 (99.97±0.06%), CD73 (99.97±0.06%), and CD90 (99.12±0.25%). The cells can be differentiated into adipocytes, chondrocytes, and osteocytes. The quantification showed that the amount of mineralization in osteoblastogenesis, production of lipid droplet in adipogenic differentiation, and production of glycosaminoglycan in chondrogenesis were noticeably higher in differentiated cells than non-differentiated cells. In conclusion, the isolated cells fulfill the minimum criteria of MSCs that can be used in research or clinical application. The great differentiation capacity of the cells into osteocytes and chondrocytes indicate that the cells are suitable in bone tissue engineering application, both for research and clinical application.