Hypertrophic Effect of Chondrogenic Differentiation Medium Supplemented with BMP-9 and TGFß-3 in Transwell Culture

Abstract

Mesenchymal stem cells are widely used in the treatment of many diseases, including osteoarthritis, due to their ability to differentiate into cartilage. The high chondrogenic differentiation potential of synovial fluid-derived mesenchymal stem cells increases the importance of these cells in osteoarthritis treatments. Addition of BMP-9 and TGF-ß3 into chondrogenic differentiation medium, increases chondrogenic differentiation and they also cause hypertrophic effects on chondrocytes. In our study, it was aimed to demonstrate the effects of BMP-9 and TGF-ß3 on cell hypertrophy by adding them into the chondrogenic basal medium during in vitro chondrogenic differentiation. In the study, stem cells in passage 5 and chondrocytes in passage 1 were cultured in a transwell coculture system and six experimental groups were formed. Cell hypertrophy was demonstrated by examining MMP-13 and RUNX -2 gene expressions, in stem cells where chondrogenesis were induced in transwell coculture. Although the addition of BMP-9 and TGF-ß3 to the chondrogenic medium increased hypertrophic gene expressions in experimental groups compared to control, the results were not statistically significant. The addition of BMP-9 and TGF -ß3, separately or in combination, during the chondrogenic differentiation of stem cells does not cause significant chondrocyte hypertrophy.