Abstract
Alginate, as a natural polysaccharide hydrogel, is promising for tissue engineering and cell therapeutic strategies. The construction and properties of alginate scaffolds can be modified by divalent cations as cross-linkers during polymerization. The aim of this study was to investigate the viability and chondrogenic capacity of human Wharton’s jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSCs) immobilized on alginate capsules in the presence of BaCl2 or CaCl2. In this study, cell viability was evaluated by MTT assay and FDA/PI staining at 1, 10, and 21 days after encapsulation in two groups of calcium alginate (CA) and barium alginate (BA) microcapsules. The alginate microcapsules were stained by Safranin-O to evaluate newly synthesized glycosaminoglycans after 21 days of chondrogenic differentiation. The presence of Collagen-II was also assessed by the immunohistochemistry method. The stability of BA microcapsules was higher than the CA microcapsules. In FDA/PI staining and MTT test, the viability of the WJ-MSCs encapsulated in CA was considerably higher than the BA-encapsulated cells. Also, in the CA microcapsules, the differentiation ability of WJ-MSCs into the chondroblast-like cells was obviously increased. Immuno-staining of collagen-II and Safranin-O staining in the WJ-MSCs encapsulated in the CA was considerably higher than the BA-encapsulated cells. The results of this study showed that a three-dimensional CA culture system has the potential to create a small and suitable environment for the growth and chondrogenic differentiation of the WJ-MSCs.
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The research grants (CMRC-9512) have been provided by the Research Council of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences as MS. C thesis of Atieh Kord.
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DBN: supervision the study, acquisition, design of the work, and interpretation of data; SA: design of the work; AK: collection of data, and drafted the work; KA-A: performed data statistical analysis, LK: interpretation of data, and critical reviewing of the manuscript. All authors approved the submitted version.
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This study was performed based on ethical principles approved by the Ethics Committee of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Iran (No: IR.AJUMS.REC.1395.434).
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Bijan Nejad, D., Azandeh, S., Kord, A. et al. Calcium- and Barium-Alginate Effects on Chondrogenic Differentiation of Wharton’s Jelly-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells. Iran J Sci Technol Trans Sci 46, 1125–1134 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40995-022-01327-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40995-022-01327-0