The stability evaluation of mesenchymal stem cells differentiation toward endothelial cells by chemical and mechanical stimulation

• Published in: In vitro cellular & developmental biology. Animal 2017-10, Vol.53 (9), p.818-826
• Main Authors: Hasanzadeh, Elham, Amoabediny, Ghassem, Haghighipour, Nooshin, Gholami, Nasim, Mohammadnejad, Javad, Shojaei, Shahrokh, Salehi-Nik, Nasim
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adipocytes - cytology; Adipocytes - drug effects; Adipose Tissue - cytology; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Bioreactors; Blood flow; Bone marrow; Cadherins; Cell Biology; Cell Culture; Cell Differentiation - drug effects; CELL GROWTH/DIFFERENTIATION/APOPTOSIS; Cell Lineage - drug effects; Cell Shape - drug effects; Chemical stimuli; Developmental Biology; Differentiation; Endothelial cells; Endothelial Cells - cytology; Endothelial Cells - drug effects; Fluids; Gene expression; Genes; Growth factors; Humans; Levels; Life Sciences; Mechanical properties; Mechanical stimuli; Mesenchymal stem cells; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells - cytology; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells - ultrastructure; Mesenchyme; Morphology; mRNA stability; Organic chemistry; Perfusion; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; Shear stress; Stability analysis; Stem Cells; Stress, Mechanical; Studies; Vascular endothelial growth factor; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A - pharmacology; Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2; Von Willebrand factor
• ISSN: 1071-2690; 1543-706X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11626-017-0165-y

Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) are adult multipotent cells able to differentiate into several cell lineages. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and the shear stress associated with blood flow are considered as the most important chemical and mechanical cues that play major roles in endothelial differentiation. However, the stability of endothelial-specific gene expression has not been completely addressed yet. ADSCs in passage 3 were cultured inside the tubular silicon tubes and then exposed to VEGF or shear stress produced in a perfusion bioreactor. To investigate the differentiation, the expression levels of Flk-1, von Willebrand factor (vWF), and vascular endothelial-cadherin (VE-cadherin) were studied using Real-Time PCR. For studying the endothelial differentiation stability, mRNA levels of the genes were evaluated in certain time intervals after completion of the tests so as to determine whether the expression level of each gene in different time points was stable and remained constant or not. Application of VEGF and shear stress caused an elevation in endothelial cells' specific genes. Although there are some changes following the days after application of mechanical and chemical stimuli, the gene expression results depicted significantly higher gene expression between sequential chemically and mechanically incited groups. In conclusion, stress alone can be a differentiating factor, by itself. Our results verified the efficient stable differentiation ability of the chemical and mechanical factors.