Coculture of umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells for differentiation into chondrocytes and Schwann cells

Umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) are reported to have features intermediate between those of fetal and adult mesenchymal cells. Hence, UC-MSCs were cocultured with chondrocytes and Schwann cells to induce differentiation because of their flexible differentiation potential. UC-MSCs were obtained from umbilical cords, and cells at the second passage were used in the experiments. Atelocollagen sponge was used as the scaffold for coculture; a horizontal, interactive coculture plate with a filter (pore size, 0.6 μm) was placed between the connected vessels. UC-MSCs were cocultured separately with chondrocytes and Schwann cells, and culture alone served as a control. Five weeks after induction of differentiation, each specimen was evaluated histologically. In the specimens cocultured with chondrocytes and the controls, cartilage tissues were detected using hematoxylin-eosin and toluidine blue staining. Cells positive for the S100 protein were detected in the specimens cocultured with Schwann cells, but not in the controls. UC-MSCs were easily induced to differentiate into chondrocytes and neural cells by coculture. This indicates that continuously shared humoral factors were effective in inducing differentiation of UC-MSCs. Thus, coculture may serve as a potentially useful technique for tissue regeneration using MSCs.