Enhanced proliferation potential of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells through suspension induction and electromagnetic field exposure

Abstract

Among the challenges to develop effective therapies using mesenchymal stem cells is the feasibility of sustainably obtaining large number of mesenchymal stem cells meant for the treatments in a short period of time. So far, scientists put their best effort to find the best material for designing good scaffold and bioreactor to recapitulate proliferation in vitro. They are also designing chemical and mechanical cues as inducer. However, the expensive materials utilized to produce good scaffolds and lack of sound knowledge on influencing MSCs proliferation chemically and mechanically are among reasons that hinder effective MSCs proliferation in short period of time using electromagnetic fields. Therefore in this study, we investigate the potential impact of electromagnetic field on the proliferation potential of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) by suspension induction. The hUC-MSCs (1.0 × 104) at passage three seeded in 6 wells plate was then exposed 300-second electromagnetic field for a single cycle in the suspension and conventional monolayer method for 120 h. The results postulate that monolayer culture cells increased 1.39 fold in the treated group as compared to the control group. Meanwhile, the suspension culture numbers of cells were increased 2.41 fold in the treated group as compared to the control group. In conclusion, the hUC-MSCs cultured in both suspension and monolayer represented good viability but they displayed a distinct ability to proliferate in long-term cultures. These results demonstrated that the suspension induction followed by electromagnetic exposure is a promising method of hUCMSCs proliferation for large-scale expansion in a longer period.