Isolation and Characterization of Multipotent Turkey Tendon-Derived Stem Cells

Abstract

Tendon injuries are among the most common and severe hand injuries with a high demand for functional recovery. Stem cells have been identified and isolated from different species and a variety of tissues for the sake of regenerative medicine. Recently, turkey has been suggested as a potential new large animal model for flexor tendon-related research. However, turkey tissue-specific stem cells have not been investigated. Here, we presented the isolation and verification of tendon-derived stem cells (TDSCs) from 6- to 8-month-old heritage-breed turkey. TDSCs were isolated from turkey flexor tendon by plating nucleated cells at the determined optimal density. Approximately 4% of the nucleated cells demonstrated clonogenicity, high proliferation rate, and trilineage differentiation potential after induction culturing. These cells expressed surface antigens CD90, CD105, and CD44, but did not express CD45. There was a high level of gene expression of tenogenic markers in TDSCs, including mohawk, collagen type I, tenascin C, and elastin. Turkey TDSCs also expressed transcription factors PouV, Nanog, and Sox2, which are critically involved in the regulation of stemness. The successful isolation of tendon-derived stem cells from turkey was beneficial for future studies in tendon tissue engineering and would help in the development of new treatment for tendon diseases using this novel animal model.

Understanding cellular and molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis of diabetic tendinopathy

“…In addition to tenocytes, which are traditionally considered to be the only cellular component in normal tendon tissues, a small population of tendon stem/progenitor cells (TSPCs) has also been identified in tendons from mice[ 65 ], rats[ 66 ], rabbits[ 67 ], turkeys[ 68 ], pigs[ 69 ], fetal cattles[ 70 ], and human[ 65 , 71 ]. These TSPCs possess stem cell characteristics including clonogenicity, proliferation, self-renewal, and multidifferentiation potential, and play significant roles in tendon repair, regeneration, and the maintenance of tendon homeostasis[ 72 - 76 ].…”

“…TSPCs derived from normal tendons are positive for Sca-1[ 65 ], Stro-1[ 65 ], cluster differentiation (CD) 44[ 40 , 65 , 66 , 68 , 70 , 71 ], CD90[ 40 , 65 , 66 , 68 , 69 , 71 ], CD105[ 68 , 69 , 71 ], and CD146[ 65 , 71 ]. In addition, TSPCs derived from diabetic rat tendons are also positive for CD44 and CD90.…”

Tendon stem/progenitor cell ageing: Modulation and rejuvenation

“…Traditionally, tenocytes were considered the only cell present in tendon tissue and play a critical role in tendons metabolism. This hypothesis did not change until the isolation and identification of TSPCs in many tendon fascicles, including mouse[11], human[19], rat[20], rabbit[21], turkey[22], porcine[23] and fetal bovine tendon fascicles[24] in recent years. Although TSPCs represent a minor percentage of the tendon cell composition, these cells possess features such as self-renewal, clonogenicity and multidifferentiation and TSPCs are distinguished by the presence of stem cell markers[21].…”

Inhibition of JAK-STAT Signaling Pathway Alleviates Age-Related Phenotypes in Tendon Stem/Progenitor Cells

“…Differentiation capacity is another key property of TSPCs regulating tendon regeneration and homeostasis ( Bi et al, 2007 ). TSPCs express pluripotency-related factors ( Shi et al, 2017 ; Liu et al, 2018 ), but their expression decreased with age ( Zhang and Wang, 2015 ). In the present study, we showed that the expressions of Nanog, Oct-4, Sca-1, and Ssea-1 were reduced in aged TSPCs.…”