Comparison of Oxidative Stress Effects on Senescence Patterning of Human Adult and Perinatal Tissue-Derived Stem Cells in Short and Long-term Cultures.

Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hMSCs) undergo senescence in lifespan. In most clinical trials, hMSCs experience long-term expansion to increase cell number prior to transplantation, which unfortunately leads to cell senescence, hampering post-transplant outcomes. Hydrogen peroxide (HO) represents a rapid, time and cost-effective tool, commonly used as oxidative stress tantalizing the stem cell ability to cope with a hostile environment, recapitulating the onset and progression of cellular senescence. Here, HO at different concentrations (ranging from 50 to 400 μM) and time exposures (1 or 2 hours - h), was used for the first time to compare the behavior of human Adipose tissue-derived Stem Cells (hASCs) and human Wharton's Jelly-derived MSCs (hWJ-MSCs), as representative of adult and perinatal tissue-derived stem cells, respectively. We showed timely different responses of hASCs and hWJ-MSCs at low and high subculture passages, concerning the cell proliferation, the cell senescence-associated β-Galactosidase activity, the capability of these cells to undergo passages, the morphological changes and the gene expression of (, alias ) and (, alias ) post HO treatments. The comparison between the hASC and hWJ-MSC response to oxidative stress induced by HO is a useful tool to assess the biological mechanisms at the basis of hMSC senescence, but it could also provide two models amenable to test putative anti-senescence modulators and develop anti-senescence strategies.