Short-term physiological hypoxia potentiates the therapeutic function of mesenchymal stem cells (original) (raw)

2018, Stem cell research & therapy

In the bone marrow, MSCs reside in a hypoxic milieu (1-5% O) that is thought to preserve their multipotent state. Typically, in vitro expansion of MSCs is performed under normoxia (~ 21% O), a process that has been shown to impair their function. Here, we evaluated the characteristics and function of MSCs cultured under hypoxia and hypothesized that, when compared to normoxia, dedicated hypoxia will augment the functional characteristics of MSCs. Human and porcine bone marrow MSCs were obtained from fresh mononuclear cells. The first study evaluated MSC function following both long-term (10 days) and short-term (48 h) hypoxia (1% O) culture. In our second study, we evaluated the functional characteristics of MSC cultured under short-term 2% and 5% hypoxia. MSCs were evaluated for their metabolic activity, proliferation, viability, clonogenicity, gene expression, and secretory capacity. In long-term culture, common MSC surface marker expression (CD44 and CD105) dropped under hypoxia....