• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.166-174
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• 2002

Background: Human umbilical cord bloods, which could be taken during the delivery are utilized as a source of hematopoietic stem cells. Also in cord blood, there are several kinds of stem cells such as endothelial and mesenchymal stem cells. Methods: We isolated the mesenchymal stem cells from human umbilical cord bloods and confirmed the differentiation of these cells into osteoblast progenitor cells. The mesenchymal stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood have the ability to differentiate into specific tissue cells, which is one of characteristics of stem cells. These cells were originated from the multipolar shaped cells out of adherent cells of the umbilical cord blood mononuclear cell culture. Results: The mesenchymal stem cells expressed cell surface antigen CD13, CD90, CD102, CD105, ${\alpha}$-smooth muscle actin and cytoplasmic antigen vimentine. Having cultrued these cells in bone formation media, we observed the formation of extracellular matrix and the expression of alkaline phosphatase and of mRNA of cbfa-1, ostoecalcin and type I collagen. Conclusion: From these results we concluded that the cells isolated from the umbilical cord blood were mesenchymal stem cells, which we could differentiate into osteoblast when cultured in bone formation media. In short, it is suggested that these cells could be used as a new source of stem cells, which has the probability to alternate the embryonic stem cells.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.187-195
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• 2007

The cord blood serves as a vehicle for the transportation of oxygen and nutrients to the fetus. In the past, the human cord blood has generally been discarded after birth. However, numerous studies have described the regenerative ability of the cord blood cells in various incurable diseases. The umbilical cord blood (UCB)-derived stem cells are obtained through non-invasive methods that are not harmful to both the mother and the fetus. Furthermore, the cord blood stem cells are more immature than the adult stem cells and expand readily in vitro. The mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the capacity to differentiate in vitro into various mesodermal (bone, cartilage, tendon, muscle, and adipose), endodermal (hepatocyte), and ectodermal (neurons) tissues. This review describes the immunological properties of the human UCB-MSCs to assess their potential usefulness in the allogeneic transplantation for the regenerative medicine.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.65-72
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• 2012

Purpose: To evaluate the differentiation potential of stem cells and their immunophenotype from 3 different sources. Methods: Our study involved three stem cell sources-subacromial bursal tissue, bone marrow, and umbilical cord blood. We obtained the subacromial bursal tissue and bone marrow from the patients undergoing shoulder surgery. After collecting the sample, we applied specific induction media for neurogenic, adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation. Also, flow-cytometry analysis was done to reveal the cell surface antigens. Results: We obtained 100% (8 cases) neural and adipogenic differentiation, but 62.5% (5 of 8 cases) osseous differentiation among the subacromial bursal tissue group. Bone marrow derived cells showed 100% neural (6 cases) and adipogenic (5 cases) differentiation, but 80% (4 of 5 cases) osseous differentiation. Umbilical cord blood derived cells revealed 97% (65 of 67 cases) neural, 53.7% (29 of 54 cases) adipogenic and 68.4% (39 of 57 cases) osseous differentiation. Immunophenotype analysis revealed that surface markers of bone marrow, subacromial bursal cell and umbilical cord blood derived mesenchymal stem cells are different from each other. Conclusions: Mesenchymal stem cells are potential agents in regenerative medicine and are characterized by expression of surface markers and by their differentiation potential. Our study with stem cells from subacromial bursal tissue, bone marrow and umbilical cord discovered that each stem cell has unique differentiation potential and function based on its origin. Various stem cells show multi-lineage differentiations in vitro which can be correlated to in vivo conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Developmental Biology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.78-78
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• 2003

Adult stem cells can make identical copies of themselves for long periods of time. They also give rise to many differentiated mature cell types that have characteristic morphology and specialized function. Human adult stem cells are the attractive raw materials for the cell/tissue therapy, however, it is not easy to get from the adult tissues. In the present study, we tried to isolate a cell population derived from human umbilical cord vein which has been discarded after birth. The cells were isolated after treatment of the umbilical vein with collagenase or trypsin. After 3 days of culture, two kinds of cell populations were found consisting of adherent cells with endothelial cell-like and fibroblast-like morphology, respectively. When these cells were subcultured 12 times over a period of 3 months, almost cells appeared uniformly to exhibit fibroblastoid morphology which was different from that of mesenchymal stem cells obtained from human bone marrow The results of RT-PCR analyses showed distinct expression of BMP-4, oct-4, and SCF genes but not of GATA, PAX-6 and Brachyury genes. On immunohistochemical staining, the cells were negative for the von Willebrand factor(vWF), alpha-smooth muscle actin and placental alkaline phosphatase. From these observations, it is suggested that stem-like cells might be present in human umbilical cord vein.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.36-43
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• 2006

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are promising candidates for cell therapy and tissue engineering, but their application has been impeded by lack of knowledge of their core biological properties. In order to identify MSC-specific proteins, the hydrophobic protein fraction was individually prepared from two different umbilical cord blood (UCB)-derived MSC populations; these were then subjected to two-dimensional (2D) gel electrophoresis and peptide mass fingerprinting matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI)-time of flight (TOF)-mass spectrometry (MS). Although the 2D gel patterns differed somewhat between the two samples, computer-assisted image analysis identified shared protein spots. 35 spots were reliably identified corresponding to 32 different proteins, many of which were chaperones. Based on their primary sub-cellular locations the proteins could be grouped into 6 categories: extracellular, cell surface, endoplasmic reticular, mitochondrial, cytoplasmic and cytoskeletal proteins. This map of the water-insoluble proteome may provide valuable insights into the biology of the cell surface and other compartments of human MSCs.

• 대한약리학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.67.2-67.2
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• 2006

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.40-49
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• 2015

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the ability to self-renew and differentiate into multi-lineage cells, thus highlighting the feasibility of using umbilical cord blood-derived MSCs (UCB-MSCs) for cell-therapy and tissueengineering. However, the low numbers of UCB-MSC derived from clinical samples requires that an ex vivo expansion step be implemented. As most stem cells reside in low oxygen tension environments (i.e., hypoxia), we cultured the UCBMSCs under 3% $O_2$ or 21% $O_2$ and the following parameters were examined: proliferation, senescence, differentiation and stem cell specific gene expression. UCB-MSCs cultured under hypoxic conditions expanded to significantly higher levels and showed less senescence compared to UCB-MSCs cultured under normoxic conditions. In regards to differentiation potential, UCB-MSCs cultured under hypoxic and normoxic conditions both underwent similar levels of osteogenesis as determined by ALP and von Kossa assay. Furthermore, UCB-MSCs cultured under hypoxic conditions exhibited higher expression of OCT4, NANOG and SOX2 genes. Moreover, cells expanded under hypoxia maintained a stem cell immnunophenotype as determined by flow cytometry. These results demonstrate that the expansion of human UCB-MSCs under a low oxygen tension microenvironment significantly improved cell proliferation and differentiation. These results demonstrate that hypoxic culture can be rapidly and easily implemented into the clinical-scale expansion process in order to maximize UCB-MSCs yield for application in clinical settings and at the same time reduce culture time while maintaining cell product quality.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.153-160
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• 2017

In this study, we aim to determine the in vivo effect of human umbilical cord blood-derived multipotent stem cells (hUCB-MSCs) on neuropathic pain, using three, principal peripheral neuropathic pain models. Four weeks after hUCB-MSC transplantation, we observed significant antinociceptive effect in hUCB-MSC-transplanted rats compared to that in the vehicle-treated control. Spinal cord cells positive for c-fos, CGRP, p-ERK, p-p 38, MMP-9 and MMP 2 were significantly decreased in only CCI model of hUCB-MSCs-grafted rats, while spinal cord cells positive for CGRP, p-ERK and MMP-2 significantly decreased in SNL model of hUCB-MSCs-grafted rats and spinal cord cells positive for CGRP and MMP-2 significantly decreased in SNI model of hUCB-MSCs-grafted rats, compared to the control 4 weeks or 8weeks after transplantation (p<0.05). However, cells positive for TIMP-2, an endogenous tissue inhibitor of MMP-2, were significantly increased in SNL and SNI models of hUCB-MSCs-grafted rats. Taken together, subcutaneous injection of hUCB-MSCs may have an antinociceptive effect via modulation of pain signaling during pain signal processing within the nervous system, especially for CCI model. Thus, subcutaneous administration of hUCB-MSCs might be beneficial for improving those patients suffering from neuropathic pain by decreasing neuropathic pain activation factors, while increasing neuropathic pain inhibition factor.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.173-181
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• 2009

One of the most extensively studied populations of multipotent adult stem cells are mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). MSCs derived from the human umbilical cord vein (HUC-MSCs) are morphologically and immunophenotypically similar to MSCs isolated from bone marrow. HUC-MSCs are multipotent stem cells, differ from hematopoietic stem cells and can be differentiated into neural cells. Since neural tissue has limited intrinsic capacity of repair after injury, the identification of alternate sources of neural stem cells has broad clinical potential. We isolated mesenchymal-like stem cells from the human umbilical cord vein, and studied transdifferentiation-promoting conditions in neural cells. Dopaminergic neuronal differentiation of HUC-MSCs was also studied. Neural differentiation was induced by adding bFGF, EGF, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) in N2 medium and N2 supplement. The immunoreactive cells for $\beta$-tubulin III, a neuron-specific marker, GFAP, an astrocyte marker, or Gal-C, an oligodendrocyte marker, were found. HUC-MSCs treated with bFGF, SHH and FGF8 were differentiated into dopaminergic neurons that were immunopositive for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) antibody. HUC-MSCs treated with DMSO and BHA rapidly showed the morphology of multipolar neurons. Both immunocytochemistry and RT-PCR analysis indicated that the expression of a number of neural markers including NeuroD1, $\beta$-tubulin III, GFAP and nestin was markedly elevated during this acute differentiation. While the stem cell markers such as SCF, C-kit, and Stat-3 were not expressed after neural differentiation, we confirmed the differentiation of dopaminergic neurons by TH/$\beta$-tubulin III positive cells. In conclusion, HUC-MSCs can be differentiated into dopaminergic neurons and these findings suggest that HUC-MSCs are alternative cell source of therapeutic treatment for neurodegenerative diseases.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.43-50
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• 2012

The use of high throughput screening (HTS) in drug development is principally for the selection new drug candidates or screening of chemical toxicants. This system minimizes the experimental environment and allows for the screening of candidates at the same time. Umbilical cord-derived stem cells have some of the characteristics of fetal stem cell and have several advantages such as the ease with which they can be obtained and lack of ethical issues. To establish a HTS system, optimized conditions that mimic typical cell culture conditions in a minimal space such as 96 well plates are needed for stem cell growth. We have thus established a novel HTS system using human umbilical cord derived-mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs). To determine the optimal cell number, hUC-MSCs were serially diluted and seeded at 750, 500, 200 and 100 cells per well on 96 well plates. The maintenance efficiencies of these dilutions were compared for 3, 7, 9, and 14 days. The fetal bovine serum (FBS) concentration (20, 10, 5 and 1%) and the cell numbers (750, 500 and 200 cells/well) were compared for 3, 5 and 7 days. In addition, we evaluated the optimal conditions for cell cycle block. These four independent optimization experiments were conducted using an MTT assay. In the results, the optimal conditions for a HTS system using hUC-MSCs were determined to be 300 cell/well cultured for 8 days with 1 or 5% FBS. In addition, we demonstrated that the optimal conditions for a cell cycle block in this culture system are 48 hours in the absence of FBS. In addition, we selected four types of novel small molecule candidates using our HTS system which demonstrates the feasibility if using hUC-MSCs for this type of screen. Moreover, the four candidate compounds can be tested for stem cell research application.