Study Biocompatibility and Osteogenic Differentiation Potential of Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hUCMSCs) with Gelatin Solvent

The human umbilical cord is a source of numerous Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs), making it as a potential source of allogeneic multipotent cell for bone tissue engineering. The aims of this study were to find: 1) Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hUCMSCs) phenotypic characterization, 2) The in-vitro osteogenic differentiation potential of hUCMSCs, 3) The cytotoxicity of gelatin solvent to hUCMSCs using 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. As a result, through characterization of hUCMSCs, the majority of target cells expressed specific MSCs markers, Cellular Differentiation (CD)73, smaller number of subpopulation expressed CD90 with only minimal subpopulation expressed CD105 and all negative MSCs markers. Osteoblastic differentiation was found in a significantly high number of cells when in vitro osteogenic differentiation of hUCMSCs with Alizarin Red staining was done. Biocompatibility analysis using the MTT assay showed that gelatin solvent and Alpha modification of minimum essential medium Eagle (α-MEM) was non-toxic for hUCMSCs in vitro. The study concluded that hUCMSCs isolated from human umbilical cord was capable of undergoing in vitro osteogenesis, indicating its potential as allogeneic stem cells for clinical application in bone tissue engineering.