Temporomandibular Joint Fibrocartilage Contains CD105 Positive Mouse Mesenchymal Stem/Progenitor Cells with Increased Chondrogenic Potential

Objective A specific type of mesenchymal stem/progenitor cells (MSPCs), CD105 + is reported to aid in cartilage regeneration through TGF-β/Smad2-signalling. The purpose of this study was to identify and characterize CD105 + MSPCs in temporomandibular joint (TMJ) cartilage. Materials and Methods MSPCs were isolated from mouse TMJ condyle explants and evaluated for their clonogenicity and pluripotential abilities. MSPC were examined for CD105 antigen using immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. Results Immunohistochemistry revealed presence of CD105 + MSPCs in the proliferative zone of condyle’s cartilage. Only 0.2% of isolated MSPCs exhibited CD105, along with the stem cell surface markers CD44 and Sca-1. In CD105 + MSPCs, intracellular immunostaining revealed significantly higher ( p < 0.05) protein levels of collagen type 1, 2, proteoglycan 4. Ability for chondrogenic differentiation was found to be significantly higher ( p < 0.05) after 4 weeks compared to CD105 − cells, using alcian blue staining. CD105 + cells were found to resemble an early MSPC subgroup with significantly higher gene expression of biglycan, proteoglycan 4, collagen type 2, Gli2, Sox5 ( p < 0.001) and Sox9 ( p < 0.05). In contrast, significantly lower levels of Runx2 ( p < 0.05), Osterix, Trps1, Col10a1 ( p < 0.01), Ihh ( p < 0.001) related to chondrocyte senescence and commitment to osteogenic lineage, were observed compared to CD105 − cells. Conclusion The study showed the existence of a CD105 + MSPC subgroup within TMJ fibrocartilage that may be activated to aid in fibrocartilage repair.