EVALUATION OF FIBRIN HYDROGEL SCAFFOLD EFFECT ON OSTEOGENIC DIFFERENTIATION OF WHARTONS’S JELLY DERIVED MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS

Bone tissue engineering is a progressive approach in bone tissue repair in medical science. Induction of osteogenic differentiation is a very important process for bone repair. Fibrin as a natural polymer is used in bone tissue engineering studies as a 3D cell culture scaffold. In this study, the osteogenic differentiation effects of fibrin hydrogel scaffold on mesenchymal stem cells isolated from human Wharton's jelly have been investigated.

The third passage of Wharton jelly human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSCs) were cultured in two groups of two-dimensional culture and three-dimensional culture of fibrin hydrogel scaffold. DMEM Low-Glucose medium containing 10% FBS and 1% antibiotic was added to both groups. These cells were kept for 21 days at 37°C and 5% CO2, and their medium was changed every three days. At the end of the culture period, their osteogenic differentiation potential was evaluated by alkaline phosphatase (ALP) assay and alizarin red staining.

Mineralization was observed in the 3D culture group and was significantly reddened by alizarin red staining. Nevertheless, very few red dots were observed in the two-dimensional culture group. The activity of alkaline phosphatase enzyme was measured as 140.64±4.2 in the three-dimensional culture group and 6.85±0.46 in the two-dimensional culture group, and the difference between them was significant (P≤0.001).

Fibrin hydrogel can induce differentiation of WJ-MSCs into bone cells in the absence of osteogenic factors.