Wang Hai, Zhou Yue, Li Chang-Qing, Chu Tong-Wei, Wang Jian, Huang Bo
Department of Orthopaedics, Xingsha Branch, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital, Changsha, Hunan 410000, P.R. China.
Department of Orthopaedics, Xinqiao Hospital, The Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400037, P.R. China.
Exp Ther Med. 2020 Apr;19(4):2570-2578. doi: 10.3892/etm.2020.8523. Epub 2020 Feb 11.
Spinal fusion serves an important role in the reconstruction of spinal stability via restoration of the normal spinal sequence and relief of pain. Studies have demonstrated that the fusion rate is mainly associated with the osteogenic capacity of the implanted graft. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been successfully isolated from human degenerated cartilage endplate (CEP) and designated as CEP-derived stem cells (CESCs). Previous studies have suggested that CESCs possesses and chondrogenic potential superior to that of bone marrow (BM)-MSCs. In addition, CESCs have shown a stronger osteogenic ability. The present study aimed to further determine the three-dimensional osteogenesis efficacy of CESCs for spinal fusion. Tissue-engineered bone grafts were transplanted into a rabbit model of posterolateral lumbar intertransverse process fusion using CESCs and BM-MSCs as seed cells composited with porous hydroxyapatite (PHA). The results of manual palpation and computed tomography (CT) scan reconstruction indicated that the CESCs/PHA group had a higher fusion rate than the BM-MSCs/PHA group, although the difference was not observed to be statistically significant. In addition, RT-qPCR results revealed that the CESCs/PHA composite expressed significantly higher levels of osteogenic-specific mRNA compared with the BM-MSCs/PHA composite. Finally, micro-CT and semi-quantitative histological analysis further demonstrated that the newly formed bone quality of the CESCs/PHA group was significantly higher than that of the BM-MSCs/PHA group in the intertransverse process fusion model. Therefore, the study indicated that CESCs possess superior osteogenesis capacity compared with BM-MSCs, and might serve as an important alternative seed cell source for bone tissue engineering. These results may provide the foundation for a biological solution to spinal fusion or other bone defect issues.
脊柱融合术在通过恢复正常脊柱序列和缓解疼痛来重建脊柱稳定性方面发挥着重要作用。研究表明，融合率主要与植入移植物的成骨能力相关。间充质干细胞（MSCs）已成功从人类退变的软骨终板（CEP）中分离出来，并被命名为CEP衍生干细胞（CESCs）。先前的研究表明，CESCs具有优于骨髓（BM）-MSCs的软骨生成潜力。此外，CESCs还表现出更强的成骨能力。本研究旨在进一步确定CESCs用于脊柱融合的三维成骨效果。使用CESCs和BM-MSCs作为种子细胞与多孔羟基磷灰石（PHA）复合，将组织工程骨移植物移植到兔腰椎后外侧横突间融合模型中。手法触诊和计算机断层扫描（CT）扫描重建结果表明，CESCs/PHA组的融合率高于BM-MSCs/PHA组，尽管差异无统计学意义。此外，RT-qPCR结果显示，与BM-MSCs/PHA复合物相比，CESCs/PHA复合物中骨生成特异性mRNA的表达水平显著更高。最后，显微CT和半定量组织学分析进一步表明，在横突间融合模型中，CESCs/PHA组新形成的骨质量明显高于BM-MSCs/PHA组。因此，该研究表明，与BM-MSCs相比，CESCs具有更强的成骨能力，可能成为骨组织工程重要的替代种子细胞来源。这些结果可为脊柱融合或其他骨缺损问题的生物学解决方案提供基础。
