Abstract
Tendon stem/progenitor cells (TSCs) are tendon-specific adult stem cells, which play crucial roles in tendon homeostasis, repair or regeneration once tendons are injured. Additionally, their pathological role in the development of tendinopathy in response to excessive mechanical loading placed on the tendon is also implicated. Similar to other adult stem cells, TSCs also exhibit universal characteristics of stem cells including colony formation in culture, self-renewal and multidifferentiation potential. Nevertheless, once TSCs are isolated from tendinous tissues and cultured in vitro, they may quickly lose stemness by undergoing differentiation. To maintain and prolong the stemness of TSCs in culture, we have developed two effective methods, namely culturing TSCs in hypoxic condition, or in growth media supplemented with low levels of PGE2. Here we present these methods in detail, along with the detailed description of the procedures to isolate TSCs from tendon samples and to culture them in vitro.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bi Y, Ehirchiou D, Kilts TM, Inkson CA, Embree MC, Sonoyama W, Li L, Leet AI, Seo BM, Zhang L, Shi S, Young MF (2007) Identification of tendon stem/progenitor cells and the role of the extracellular matrix in their niche. Nat Med 13(10):1219–1227. https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1630
Zhang J, Wang JH (2010) Characterization of differential properties of rabbit tendon stem cells and tenocytes. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 11:10. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2474-11-10
Zhou Z, Akinbiyi T, Xu L, Ramcharan M, Leong DJ, Ros SJ, Colvin AC, Schaffler MB, Majeska RJ, Flatow EL, Sun HB (2010) Tendon-derived stem/progenitor cell aging: defective self-renewal and altered fate. Aging Cell 9(5):911–915. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-9726.2010.00598.x
Rui YF, Lui PP, Li G, Fu SC, Lee YW, Chan KM (2010) Isolation and characterization of multipotent rat tendon-derived stem cells. Tissue Eng Part A 16(5):1549–1558. https://doi.org/10.1089/ten.TEA.2009.0529
Zhang J, Wang JH (2014) Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) exerts biphasic effects on human tendon stem cells. PLoS One 9(2):e87706
Zhang J, Wang JH (2013) Human tendon stem cells better maintain their stemness in hypoxic culture conditions. PLoS One 8(4):e61424
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Zhang, J., Wang, J.HC. (2018). Maintenance of Tendon Stem/Progenitor Cells in Culture. In: Singh, S., Rameshwar, P. (eds) Somatic Stem Cells. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1842. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8697-2_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-8697-2_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-8696-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-8697-2
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols