Isolation and Characterization of Posterofrontal/Sagittal Suture Mesenchymal Cells In Vitro

Abstract

To the authors' knowledge, this is the first analysis of mouse suture-derived mesenchymal cells. The authors conclude that isolation of suture-derived mesenchymal cells will provide a useful in vitro system with which to study the mechanisms underlying suture biology.

Craniomaxillofacial Sources of Mesenchymal Stem Cells: A Brief Review

“…Transforming growth factor (TGF)-β is known to control cell growth, proliferation and differentiation, so it has an expected involvement in SMC. Interestingly, SMC derived from posterofrontal suture of postnatal mice show approximately five times the expression level of TGF-β1 than sagittal suture [6,46,47] . TGF-β1 has been shown to not only upregulate chondrogenic marker expression in posterofrontal SMC [46] , but also significantly downregulates proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of both populations, whereas TGF-3 significantly increases posterofrontal SMC proliferation [48] .…”

“…However, they differ in that posterofrontal SMCs have been reported to express significantly higher levels of Osteopontin (Opn) [6] , Runx2, Col Iα and Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity [46] . With generally higher levels of bone nodule formation [47] , posterofrontal SMC demonstrate greater osteogenic potential than sagittal SMC.…”

“…With generally higher levels of bone nodule formation [47] , posterofrontal SMC demonstrate greater osteogenic potential than sagittal SMC. Furthermore, compared to their sagittal-derived counterparts, posterofrontal SMC show elevated expression of Collagen II (Col II), a chondrogenic component of the extracellular matrix [6] , thus indicating greater chondrogenic potential. These in vitro findings recapitulate the in vivo fate of the posterofrontal suture, which undergoes endochondral ossification and fusion in comparison to the sagittal suture, which remains patent.…”

“…The posterofrontal suture, which is analogous to the metopic suture in humans, typically undergoes endochondral ossification and fuses within 8 to 10 days postnatally [6] . By contrast, the sagittal suture, along with all others remains patent throughout adulthood [45] .…”

“…MSC among craniomaxillofacial sources are diverse, unique and variably well characterized. These include dental pulp stem cells (DPSC) [4] , periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSC) [5] , suture-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (SMC) [6] and gingival mesenchymal stem cells (GMSC) [7] ( Figure 2). …”