Differentiation of human CD146-positive endometrial stem cells to adipogenic-, osteogenic-, neural progenitor-, and glial-like cells

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the potential differentiation of CD146⁺ endometrial stem cells to several lineages. Endometrial stromal cells were cultured using Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium/Hams F-12 (DMEM/F-12) and were passaged every 7–10 d when cultures reached 80–100% of confluency. The immunophenotypes of single endometrial cells were analyzed using flow cytometry at fourth passage. Then the CD146⁺ cells were sorted using magnetic-activated cell sorting, and they were cultured and analyzed for in vitro differentiation to several lineages. Detection of adipocyte- and osteocyte-like cells were assessed by oil red O and alizarin red staining, respectively. For detection of neural progenitor and oligodendrocyte-like cells, the cells were immunostained by neurofilament 68 and oligo2, respectively. The rates of CD90, CD105, CD146, CD31, CD34, and CD9 of cultured endometrial cells were 94.98 ± 3%, 95.77 ± 2.5%, 27.61 ± 2%, 0.79 ± 0.05%, 1.43 ± 0.1%, and 1.01 ± 0.06%, respectively. CD146⁺ cells were isolated to high purity. CD146⁺-differentiated cells to adipogenic cell with typical lipid-rich vacuoles and osteogenic cells were observed and confirmed their mesenchymal origin. They also differentiated into neural progenitor and glial differentiation by retinoic acid, basic fibroblast growth factor, and epidermal growth factor signaling molecules, respectively, and confirmed by neurofilament 68 and oligo2 immunocytochemistry. The efficiency of differentiation to neural progenitor and oligodendrocyte-like cells was 90 ± 3.4% and 79 ± 2.8%, respectively. This study showed that CD146⁺ cells from human endometrium after in vitro cultivation can differentiate into adipogenic-, osteogenic-, neural progenitor-, and glial-like cells. They may provide available alternative source of stem cells for future cell-based therapies and tissue engineering applications.