Bone and cartilage differentiation of a single stem cell population driven by material interface

Adult stem cells, such as mesenchymal stem cells, are a multipotent cell source able to differentiate towards multiple cell types. While used widely in tissue engineering and biomaterials research, they present inherent donor variability and functionalities. In addition, their potential to form multiple tissues is rarely exploited. Here, we combine an osteogenic nanotopography and a chondrogenic hyaluronan hydrogel with the hypothesis that we can make a complex tissue from a single multipotent cell source with the exemplar of creating a three-dimensional bone–cartilage boundary environment. Marrow stromal cells were seeded onto the topographical surface and the temperature gelling hydrogel laid on top. Cells that remained on the nanotopography spread and formed osteoblast-like cells, while those that were seeded into or migrated into the gel remained rounded and expressed chondrogenic markers. This novel, simple interfacial environment provides a platform for anisotropic differentiation of cells from a single source, which could ultimately be exploited to sort osteogenic and chondrogenic progenitor cells from a marrow stromal cell population and to develop a tissue engineered interface.