Hsieh Shu-Chen, Wang Fung-Fang, Hung Shih-Chieh, Chen Yu-Ju, Wang Yng-Jiin
Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Yang Ming University, Shih-Pai, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
J Biomed Mater Res B Appl Biomater. 2006 Oct;79(1):95-101. doi: 10.1002/jbm.b.30517.
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are capable of differentiating into multiple cell lineages and are useful for therapeutic applications. Labeling the MSCs with fluorescent probes is beneficial in tracing the fate of MSCs after implantation. We have introduced the CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) into the human bone marrow MSCs and examined the effects of QDs on the proliferation and chondrogenesis of the cells. The internalized QDs were found localized in perinuclear regions and remained there after a number of cell passages. The presence of QDs did not affect the proliferation of cells or the size of chondrospheres formed, when subjected to chondrogenesis induction. However, the expression of mRNA and protein of type II collagen and aggrecan in the chondrospheres was significantly inhibited in cells labeled with QDs, suggesting impaired chondrogenesis. Our results that the presence of QDs interferes with the chondrogenic differentiation of MSCs raise concerns in using the QDs as fluorescence tracers for stem cells.
间充质干细胞（MSCs）能够分化为多种细胞谱系，可用于治疗应用。用荧光探针标记MSCs有利于追踪植入后MSCs的命运。我们已将CdSe/ZnS量子点（QDs）引入人骨髓MSCs，并研究了QDs对细胞增殖和成软骨作用的影响。发现内化的QDs定位于核周区域，并且在多次传代后仍保留在那里。当进行成软骨诱导时，QDs的存在不影响细胞增殖或形成的软骨球大小。然而，在用QDs标记的细胞中，软骨球中II型胶原蛋白和聚集蛋白聚糖的mRNA和蛋白质表达受到显著抑制，表明成软骨作用受损。我们的结果表明QDs的存在会干扰MSCs的成软骨分化，这引发了对将QDs用作干细胞荧光示踪剂的担忧。
