1. Dynamic tracking of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) following intravenous administration in mice model
- Author
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Sze-Piaw Chin, Marini Marzuki, Lihui Tai, Nurul Ashikin Mohamed Shahrehan, Christine Ricky, Audrey Fanty, Annas Salleh, Chui Thean Low, Kong-Yong Then, Susan Ling Ling Hoe, and Soon Keng Cheong
- Subjects
Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell ,Biodistribution ,GFP-Luc2 ,Medicine (General) ,R5-920 ,Cytology ,QH573-671 - Abstract
Introduction: In the past decades, human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) have sparked interest in cellular therapy due to their immunomodulatory properties. Nevertheless, the fate of hUC-MSCs in the body remains poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate the biodistribution, homing and clearance of systemically administered hUC-MSCs in healthy BALB/c mice model. Methods: hUC-MSCs were labelled with GFP-Luc2 protein, followed by characterisation with flow cytometry. Upon intravenous infusion of transduced hUC-MSCs into the healthy BALB/c mice, the cells were dynamically monitored through the bioluminescent imaging (BLI) approach. Results: Transduction of hUC-MSCs with GFP-Luc2 not only preserved the characteristics of MSCs, but also allowed live monitoring of transduced cells in the mice model. Upon systemic administration, BLI showed that transduced hUC-MSCs first localised predominantly in the lungs of healthy BALB/c mice and mainly remained in the lungs for up to 3 days before eventually cleared from the body. At terminal sacrifice, plasma chemistry biomarkers remained unchanged except for C-peptide levels, which were significantly reduced in the hUC-MSCs group. Histopathological findings further revealed that hUC-MSCs infusion did not cause any adverse effects and toxicity to lung, liver and heart tissues. Conclusions: Collectively, systemically administrated hUC-MSCs was safe and demonstrated dynamic homing capacity before eventually disappearing from the body.
- Published
- 2024
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