Rapid Rapamycin-Only Induced Osteogenic Differentiation of Blood-Derived Stem Cells and Their Adhesion to Natural and Artificial Scaffolds

Abstract

Stem cells are a centerpiece of regenerative medicine research, and the recent development of adult stem cell-based therapy systems has vigorously expanded the scope and depth of this scientific field. The regeneration of damaged and/or degraded bone tissue in orthopedic, dental, or maxillofacial surgery is one of the main areas where stem cells and their regenerative potential could be used successfully, requiring tissue engineering solutions incorporating an ideal stem cell type paired with the correct mechanical support. Our contribution to this ongoing research provides a new model of in vitro osteogenic differentiation using blood-derived stem cells (BDSCs) and rapamycin, visibly expressing typical osteogenic markers within ten days of treatment. In depth imaging studies allowed us to observe the adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation of BDSCs to both titanium and bone scaffolds. We demonstrate that BDSCs can differentiate towards the osteogenic lineage rapidly, while readily adhering to the scaffolds we exposed them to. Our results show that our model can be a valid tool to study the molecular mechanisms of osteogenesis while tailoring tissue engineering solutions to these new insights.

Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) microanalysis: A powerful tool in biomedical research and diagnosis

“… 107 Also EDX microanalysis can be used to identify micro-HA crystal produced by osteoblast cultures. 110 , 111 …”

Promoting effect of rapamycin on osteogenic differentiation of maxillary sinus membrane stem cells

“…Following pretreatment with the autophagy inhibitor 3-MA and the autophagic agonist RAPA, BMMSCs were transplanted in nude mice, and in vivo analysis showed that the ectopic osteogenesis quality increased and that the bone-like tissue increased in the RAPA-treated group; the recovery of the 3-MA-treated osteogenesis ability was inhibited ( Wan et al, 2017 ). Previous studies showed that RAPA promoted the osteoblastic differentiation of human embryonic stem cells by blocking the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway and stimulating the BMP/Smad pathway ( Arianna et al, 2017 ; Lee et al, 2010 ). Also, there are recent reports of studies on the epigenetics of MSMSC osteogenic differentiation.…”

In Vivo Identification of H3K9me2/H3K79me3 as an Epigenetic Barrier to Carcinogenesis

“…Therefore, an intimate epigenetic link between healthy adult stem cells and tumors can be assessed. Accordingly, we have previously demonstrated that both blood-derived stem cells (BDSCs) and human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells are able to differentiate into osteoblasts [28,29]. During this differentiation process, BDSCs clearly undergo specific epigenetic changes, involving H3 [9], but no information on epigenetics is available for SH-SY5Y cells.…”