The Effect of Conditioned Medium of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells on the Expression Level of Cartilage Specific Genes by Chondrocytes

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common multifactorial disease that deteriorates articular cartilage in the elderly. Recently, mesenchymal stem cells have been introduced as candidates for OA treatment but some researchers showed that implantation of stem cells into the lesion site of patients can lead to some side effects. Accordingly, many scientists switch their field of research to the application of stem cells supernatant. The purpose of this study is to evaluate whether supernatant of adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) can result in the expression of cartilage-specific genes in chondrocytes.

Mesenchymal stem cells were isolated from adipose tissue and their supernatant was collected and added to chondrocytes. After 3 days, chondrocytes were prepared for expression of collagen type II, sox9, COMP and aggrecan genes using real-time RT-PCR.

Data analysis showed that in the presence of ASCs conditioned medium (CM), the gene expression level of collagen II, sox9, and aggrecan did not change but that of the COMP significantly increased after 3 days.

The obtained results may be related to the unknown factors secreted by stem cells and more investigations are necessary for understanding the exact mechanisms underlying these findings