A comparative study of the influence of two types of PHEMA stents on the differentiation of ASCs to myocardial cells

In the present study, subcutaneous fat was obtained from adult women that had undergone conventional liposuction surgery. A comparative study was performed to investigate the effect of transparent and white poly-β-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (PHEMA) stents, which have different surface and cross-sectional morphological characteristics, on the differentiation of adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) into myocardial cells. The cell counting kit-8 assay revealed that cell growth increased at varying rates among the different treatment groups. The absorbance of the experimental transparent PHEMA treated group increased in a time-dependent manner with the duration of incubation. The highest levels of proliferation were observed in the transparent PHEMA group. In addition, the transparent PHEMA treated group exhibited the strongest cell adhesion ability, which was significantly different to that of the white PHEMA group (P<0.01 and P<0.05 for Matrigel and fibronectin assay, respectively). Comparisons between the two stent materials with the inducer control group revealed statistically significant differences in the rate of ASC differentiation (P<0.05). The level of differentiation was the greatest in the transparent PHEMA group, and was significantly different to the white PHEMA group (P<0.05) and the blank control group (P<0.01). The results suggest that the inducers 5-aza-2-deoxycytidin and laminin, and material microstructure stents effectively promote the proliferation, growth and adhesion of ASCs. However, the transparent material microstructure may be a more suitable candidate for ASC-associated injections. The present study provides further evidence that a PHEMA stent structure, comprised of a high number of matrixes and a low water content, induces a high level of ASC differentiation to myocardial cells.