Author(s):
Gonçalves, Ana 
; Rodrigues, Márcia T. ; Reis, R. L. ; Gomes, Manuela E.
Date: 2012
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/23952
Origin: RepositóriUM - Universidade do Minho
Subject(s): Growth factors; Human adipose stem cells; Tendon
Description
The limited ability of tendon to self-repair and the limitation
of treatment regimes have hastened the motivation to develop
cell-based strategies for tendon repair. Growth factors (GFs) such as
EGF, FGF, PDGF and TGF-b participate in tendon formation, ECM synthesis
or healing, and may assist tenogenic differentiation. Thus, this
work aims to establish culturing conditions that induce tenogenic differentiation
of human adipose stem cells (hASCs) using these GFs.
Materials&Methods: hASCs were isolated and expanded in a-MEM basic
medium. Both freshly isolated and cryopreserved hASCs (P3) were further
cultured with different supplements namely basic medium with
glutamine (2 mM) and ascorbic acid (0.2 mM) plus i) EGF (10 ng/
ml), ii) FGF (10 ng/ml), iii) PDGF (10 ng/ml) or iv) TGF-b (10 ng/
ml) for 7, 14, 21 or 28 days. hASCs differentiation into tenocytes was
assessed by real time PCR analysis of the expression of collagen type I
and type III, decorin, and scleraxis.
Results: In i) and ii) media, hASCs showed a tenocyte-like aligned distribution
after 14 days, while in iii) and iv) it was only observed by
21 days. Overall, hASCs showed a higher gene expression in media i)
and ii).
