Proliferation, Stemness and Cardiac Differentiation Properties of Umbilical Cord Wharton’s Jelly-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells during the Continuous Passages

Abstract

Fetal tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) may offer greater clinical utility because they possess unique properties over bone marrow (BM) MSCs. Although the continuous passage process can generate numerous MSCs for clinical applications, this process may also have an important effect on the bological characteristics of fetal MSCs. In this study, the proliferation, stemness and cardiac differentiation properties of umbilical cord (UC) Wharton’s Jelly-derived MSCs (WJ MSCs) at different passages (3, 7 and 14) was investigated. It was found that WJ MSC proliferation rate was decreased during the continuous passage process. And the ESC marker gene (Oct3/4, Nanog) expression in WJ MSCs also decreased gradually, while the early mesoderm marker gene (Vimentin) was highest at passage 7. Moreover, the cardiac marker gene (Nkx2.5) expression in differentiated MSCs increased during the continuous passage after cardiac induction. Our results may provide some useful information for stem cell therapy based on WJ MSCs.