Platelet-Rich Plasma Promotes the Proliferation of Human Muscle Derived Progenitor Cells and Maintains Their Stemness

Human muscle-derived progenitor cells (hMDPCs) offer great promise for muscle cell-based regenerative medicine; however, prolonged ex-vivo expansion using animal sera is necessary to acquire sufficient cells for transplantation. Due to the risks associated with the use of animal sera, the development of a strategy for the ex vivo expansion of hMDPCs is required. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of using platelet-rich plasma (PRP) for the ex-vivo expansion of hMDPCs. Pre-plated MDPCs, myoendothelial cells, and pericytes are three populations of hMDPCs that we isolated by the modified pre-plate technique and Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting (FACS), respectively. Pooled allogeneic human PRP was obtained from a local blood bank, and the effect that thrombin-activated PRP-releasate supplemented media had on the ex-vivo expansion of the hMDPCs was tested against FBS supplemented media, both in vitro and in vivo. PRP significantly enhanced short and long-term cell proliferation, with or without FBS supplementation. Antibody-neutralization of PDGF significantly blocked the mitogenic/proliferative effects that PRP had on the hMDPCs. A more stable and sustained expression of markers associated with stemness, and a decreased expression of lineage specific markers was observed in the PRP-expanded cells when compared with the FBS-expanded cells. The in vitro osteogenic, chondrogenic, and myogenic differentiation capacities of the hMDPCs were not altered when expanded in media supplemented with PRP. All populations of hMDPCs that were expanded in PRP supplemented media retained their ability to regenerate myofibers in vivo. Our data demonstrated that PRP promoted the proliferation and maintained the multi-differentiation capacities of the hMDPCs during ex-vivo expansion by maintaining the cells in an undifferentiated state. Moreover, PDGF appears to be a key contributing factor to the beneficial effect that PRP has on the proliferation of hMDPCs. © 2013 Li et al

Circulating and skeletal insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) concentrations in two inbred strains of mice with different bone mineral densities [see comments]

Recent work has demonstrated differences in femoral bone mineral density between two common inbred strains of mice, C3H/HeJ (C3H) and C57BL/6J (B6), across a wide age range. To investigate one possible mechanism that could affect acquisition and maintenance of bone mass in mice, we studied circulatory and skeletal insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and femoral bone mineral density (F-BMD) by pQCT in C3H and B6 progenitor strains, as well as serum IGF-I obtained from matings between these two strains and mice bred from subsequent F1 intercrosses (F2). Serum IGF-I measured by radioimmunoassay was more than 35% higher in virgin progenitor C3H than virgin B6 at 1, 4, 8, and 10 months of age, and in 8-month-old C3H compared with B6 retired breeders (p \u3c 0.001). In the progenitors, there was also a strong correlation between serum IGF-I and serum alkaline phosphatase (r = 0.51, p = 0.001). In the 4 month F1 females IGF-I levels and F-BMD were intermediate between C3H and B6 progenitors. In contrast, groups of F2 mice with the highest or lowest BMD also had the highest or lowest serum IGF-I (p = 0.0001). IGF-I accounted for \u3e 35% of the variance in F-BMD among the F2 mice. Conditioned media from newborn C3H calvarial cultures had higher concentrations of IGF-I than media from B6 cultures, and cell layer extracts from C3H calvariae exhibited greater alkaline phosphatase activity than cultures from B6 calvarial cells (p \u3c 0.0001). The skeletal content of IGF-I in C3H tibiae, femorae, and calvariae (6-14 weeks of age) was also significantly higher than IGF-I content in the same bones of the B6 mice (p \u3c 0.05). These data suggest that a possible mechanism for the difference in acquisition and maintenance of bone mass between these two inbred strains is related to systemic and skeletal IGF-I synthesis

Osteoclast formation in bone marrow cultures from two inbred strains of mice with different bone densities.

For the purpose of identifying genes that affect bone volume, we previously identified two inbred mouse strains (C57BL/6J and C3H/HeJ) with large differences in femoral bone density and medullary cavity volume. The lower density and larger medullary cavity volume in C57BL/6J mice could result from either decreased formation or increased resorption or both. We recently reported evidence suggesting that bone formation was increased in vivo and that osteoblast progenitor cells are more numerous in the bone marrow of C3H/HeJ compared with C57BL/6J mice. In the present study, we determined whether osteoclast numbers in vivo and osteoclast formation from bone marrow cells in vitro might also differ between the two mouse strains. We have found that the number of osteoclasts on bone surfaces of distal humerus secondary spongiosa was 2-fold higher in 5.5-week-old C57BL/6J mice than in C3H/HeJ mice of the same age (p \u3c 0.001). Bone marrow cells of C57BL/6J mice cocultured with Swiss/Webster mouse osteoblasts consistently produced more osteoclasts than did C3H/HeJ bone marrow cells at all ages tested from 3.5-14 weeks of age (p \u3c 0.001). Osteoclast formation was also greater from spleen cells of 3.5-week-old C57BL/6J mice than C3H/HeJ mice. The distribution of nuclei per osteoclast and the 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 dose dependence of osteoclast production from bone marrow cells were similar. Osteoclasts that developed from both C57BL/6J and C3H/HeJ marrow cells formed pits in dentin slices. Cultures from C57BL/6J marrow cells formed 2.5-fold more pits than cultures from C3H/HeJ marrow cells (p \u3c 0.02). We compared the abilities of C57BL/6J and C3H/HeJ osteoblasts to support osteoclast formation. When bone marrow cells from either C57BL/6J or C3H/HeJ mice were cocultured with osteoblasts from either C57BL/6J or C3H/HeJ newborn calvaria, the strain from which osteoblasts were derived did not affect the number of osteoclasts formed from marrow cells of either strain. Together, these observations suggest that genes affecting the bone marrow osteoclast precursor population may contribute to the relative differences in bone density that occur between C3H/HeJ and C57BL/6J mouse strains

Expression of human bone morphogenetic protein (BMP-2 and BMP-4) genes in transgenic bovine fibroblasts Expressão dos genes bone morphogenetic protein (BMP-2 e BMP-4) em fibroblastos bovinos transgênicos

<abstract language="por">cDNAs dos genes bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) e bone morphogenetic protein-4 (BMP-4) foram sintetizados a partir de RNA total extraído de tecidos ósseos de pacientes que apresentavam trauma facial (fraturas do maxilar entre o 7º e o 10º dia pós-trauma) e clonados num vetor para expressão em células mamíferas, sob controle do promotor de citomegalovírus (CMV). Os vetores contendo os genes BMP-2 e o BMP-4 foram utilizados para a transfecção de fibroblastos bovinos. mRNAs foram indiretamente detectados por RT-PCR nas células transfectadas. As proteínas BMP-2 e BMP-4 foram detectadas mediante análises de Western blot. Os resultados demonstram a possibilidade de produção desses fatores de crescimento celular em fibroblastos bovinos. Essas células poderão ser utilizadas como fontes doadoras de material genético para a técnica de transferência nuclear na geração de animais transgênicos

Studies on regulation of IGF (insulin-like growth factor)-binding protein (IGFBP) 4 proteolysis by pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) in cells treated with phorbol ester.

PAPP-A (pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A) is produced by hSFs (human skin fibroblasts) and hOBs (human osteoblasts) and enhances the mitogenic activity of IGFs (insulin-like growth factors) by degradation of IGFBP-4 (insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 4). PKC (protein kinase C) activation in these cells led to reduction in IGFBP-4 proteolysis. This study was undertaken to determine the mechanism by which activation of PKC suppresses IGFBP-4 proteolysis. Treatment of hSFs/hOBs with TPA (PMA; 100 nM) reduced IGFBP-4 proteolysis without significantly decreasing the PAPP-A level in the CM (conditioned medium). Immunodepletion of the proform of eosinophil major basic protein (proMBP), a known PAPP-A inhibitor, from CM of TPA-treated cells (TPA CM) failed to increase IGFBP-4 proteolytic activity. Transduction of hSFs with proMBP retrovirus increased the concentration of proMBP up to 30 ng/ml and led to a moderate reduction in IGFBP-4 proteolysis. In contrast, TPA treatment blocked IGFBP-4 proteolysis but failed to induce a detectable amount of proMBP in the CM. While proMBP overexpression led to the formation of a covalent proMBP-PAPP-A complex and reduced the migration of PAPP-A on SDS/PAGE, TPA treatment dose- and time-dependently increased the conversion of a approximately 470 kDa PAPP-A form (PAPP-A470) to a approximately 400 kDa PAPP-A form (PAPP-A400). Since unreduced PAPP-A400 co-migrated with the 400 kDa recombinant PAPP-A homodimer and since PAPP-A monomers from reduced PAPP-A470 and PAPP-A400 co-migrated on SDS/PAGE, conversion of PAPP-A470 to PAPP-A400 is unlikely to be caused by proteolytic cleavage of PAPP-A. Consistent with the data showing that the increase in the ratio of PAPP-A400/PAPP-A470 is correlated with the extent of reduction in IGFBP-4 proteolysis, partially purified PAPP-A400 exhibited a 4-fold reduction in IGFBP-4 proteolytic activity compared with PAPP-A470. These data suggest that a novel mechanism, namely conversion of PAPP-A470 to the less-active PAPP-A400, could account for the TPA-induced suppression of PAPP-A activity