HYPOTHERMIC STORAGE OF HUMAN UMBILICAL CORD MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS AND THEIR HYDROGEL CONSTRUCTS

摘要

BACKGROUND: Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUMSCs) and hUMSCs-hydrogel constructs have great potential in clinical application. However, research about hypothermic storage of hUMSCs and hUMSCs-hydrogel constructs has not been fully investigated. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the cell survival without and with encapsulation (alginate, alginate with PVA) at 4 degrees C and 25 degrees C, respectively. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Acridine orange/ethidium bromide (AO/EB) staining and fluorescence staining were used to evaluate cell viability during hypothermic storage. RESULTS: Cells with encapsulation show significantly higher viability than cells without encapsulation at 4 degrees C, while there was no obvious difference between viability of cells without and with encapsulation at 25 degrees C. In addition, cells encapsulated with alginate and PVA show better viability than cells encapsulated with alginate alone. Moreover, cell viability at 25 degrees C was significantly higher than cell viability at 4 degrees C. CONCLUSION: hUMSCs aggregates and hUMSCs-hydrogel constructs can survive for 7 days by hypothermic storage at 25 degrees C, which facilitates the cell delivery and application of hUMSCs and hUMSCs-hydrogel constructs in clinical medicine.