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Three-dimensional Spheroid Culture Enhances Multipotent Differentiation and Stemness Capacities of Human Dental Pulp‐derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells by Modulating MAPK and NF-kB Signaling Pathways

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Abstract

Background

Three-dimensional (3D) culture of mesenchymal stem cells has become an important research and development topic. However, comprehensive analysis of human dental pulp-derived mesenchymal stem cells (DPSCs) in 3D-spheroid culture remains unexplored. Thus, we evaluated the cellular characteristics, multipotent differentiation, gene expression, and related-signal transduction pathways of DPSCs in 3D-spheroid culture via magnetic levitation (3DM), compared with 2D-monolayer (2D) and 3D-aggregate (3D) cultures.

Methods

The gross morphology and cellular ultrastructure were observed in the 2D, 3D, and 3DM experimental groups using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Surface markers and trilineage differentiation were evaluated using flow cytometry and staining analysis. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and immunofluorescence staining (IF) were performed to investigate the expression of differentiation and stemness markers. Signaling transduction pathways were evaluated using western blot analysis.

Results

The morphology of cell aggregates and spheroids was largely influenced by the types of cell culture plates and initial cell seeding density. SEM and TEM experiments confirmed that the solid and firm structure of spheroids was quickly formed in the 3DM-medium without damaging cells. In addition, these three groups all expressed multilineage differentiation capabilities and surface marker expression. The trilineage differentiation capacities of the 3DM-group were significantly superior to the 2D and 3D-groups. The osteogenesis, angiogenesis, adipogenesis, and stemness-related genes were significantly enhanced in the 3D and 3DM-groups. The IF analysis showed that the extracellular matrix expression, osteogenesis, and angiogenesis proteins of the 3DM-group were significantly higher than those in the 2D and 3D-groups. Finally, 3DM-culture significantly activated the MAPK and NF-kB signaling transduction pathways and ameliorated the apoptosis effects of 3D-culture.

Conclusions

This study confirmed that 3DM-spheroids efficiently enhanced the therapeutic efficiency of DPSCs.

Graphical Abstract

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Data Availability

The data from the current study are available from the corresponding author on request.

Abbreviations

2D:

two-dimensional

3D:

three-dimensional

SEM:

scanning electron microscopy

TEM:

transmission electron microscopy

qRT-PCR:

quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction

IF:

immunofluorescence staining

MSC:

mesenchymal stem cell

DPSCs:

dental-pulp derived mesenchymal stem cells

ECM:

extracellular matrix

PDLMSC:

periodontal ligament mesenchymal stem cell

GMSC:

gingival mesenchymal stem cells

ADMSC:

adipose mesenchymal stem cell

MNP:

magnetic nanoparticle

PFA:

paraformaldehyde

VEGF:

vascular endothelial growth factor

OCN:

osteocalcin

DAPI:

4’,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole

RIPA:

radioimmunoprecipitation assay

MAPK:

mitogen-activated protein kinase

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the academic and science graphic illustration services provided by TMU Research Promotion Center.

Funding

This study was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (Grants MOST 107-2314-B-038-069 and 108-2314-B-038-032).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Ya-Hui Chan and Yu-Chieh Lee contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Oral Hygiene, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Ya-Hui Chan & Sheng-Wei Feng

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

    Yu-Chieh Lee

  3. School of Dentistry, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, No. 250, Wuxing St, Taipei, 11031, Taiwan

    Chia-Yi Hung & Sheng-Wei Feng

  4. Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Pi-Ju Yang

  5. Department of Diagnosis and Oral Health, School of Dentistry, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA

    Pin-Chuang Lai

  6. Division of Prosthodontics, Department of Dentistry, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

    Sheng-Wei Feng

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  1. Ya-Hui Chan
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Contributions

YHC and YCL performed the whole research and data collection. CYH carried out the isolation of DPSCs and data analysis. PJY carried out the western blot. PCL helped in the critical discussion. SWF designed the experiments and performed the manuscript drafting. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sheng-Wei Feng.

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Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate

All experimental protocols were performed with ethics approval from the ethical committee of the Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan (approval no. N201904079). Consent to participate is not applicable.

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Not applicable.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Chan, YH., Lee, YC., Hung, CY. et al. Three-dimensional Spheroid Culture Enhances Multipotent Differentiation and Stemness Capacities of Human Dental Pulp‐derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells by Modulating MAPK and NF-kB Signaling Pathways. Stem Cell Rev and Rep 17, 1810–1826 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12015-021-10172-4

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