Umbilical Cord Stem Cell Lysate: A New Biologic Injectate for the Putative Treatment of Acute Temporomandibular Joint Inflammation

OBJECTIVE: To compare in vivo, the acute anti-inflammatory effects of a lysate derived from human umbilical perivascular mesenchymal cells with the cells themselves in both an established hind-paw model of carrageenan-induced inflammation and also in the inflamed temporomandibular joint. STUDY DESIGN: Human umbilical cord perivascular cells were harvested and cultured in xeno- and serum-free conditions to P3. In addition, P3 cells were used to prepare a proprietary 0.22 micron filtered lysate. First, CD1 immunocompetent mice underwent unilateral hind-paw injections of carrageenan for induction of inflammation, followed immediately by treatment with saline (negative control), 1% cell lysate, or viable cells. The contralateral paw remained un-injected with carrageenan. Paw circumference was measured prior to injections and 48 hr later and myeloperoxidase and TNF-alpha concentrations were measured post-sacrifice in excised tissue. Second, immunocompetent Male Wistar rats underwent unilateral intra-articular temporomandibular (TMJ) injections from the same treatment groups and were sacrificed at 4 and 48 hr post-injection. The contralateral TMJ remained un-injected with carrageenan. Articular tissue and synovial aspirates, from the treated TMJ were obtained for histologic and leukocyte infiltration analyses. RESULTS: The lysate and cell-treated hind-paw demonstrated reduced tissue edema, and significantly lower concentrations of myeloperoxidase and TNF-alpha at 48 hr compared to untreated controls. Treated TMJs demonstrated lower concentrations of leukocytes in the synovium compared to controls and histologic evidence, in the peri-articular tissue, of reduced inflammation. CONCLUSION: In this preliminary study, both the human umbilical perivascular cells and a highly diluted lysate produced therefrom were anti-inflammatory.