Comparative analysis of mesenchymal stem cells derived from amniotic membrane, umbilical cord, and chorionic plate under serum-free condition

BACKGROUND: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have emerged as a promising regenerative tool, owing mainly to their multi-differentiation potential and immunosuppressive capacity. When compared with MSCs classically derived from the adult bone marrow (BM), MSCs of neonatal origins exhibit superior proliferation ability, lower immunogenicity, and possible lower incorporated mutation; hence, they are considered as an alternative source for clinical use. Several researches have focused on the biological differences among some neonatal MSCs cultured in serum-containing medium (SCM). However, since it has been reported that MSCs possess different biological characteristics when cultured in serum-free medium (SFM), these comparative studies in SCM cannot exactly represent the results under the serum-free Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standard. METHODS: Here, MSCs were isolated from three neonatal tissues, namely amniotic membrane (AM), umbilical cord (UC), and chorionic plate (CP), from the same donor, and their morphologies, immunophenotypes, trilineage differentiation potentials, global gene expression patterns, and proliferation abilities were systematically compared under chemical-defined SFM. RESULTS: Our study demonstrated that these three neonatal MSCs exhibited a similar morphology and immunophenotypic pattern but various mesodermal differentiation potentials under SFM: amniotic membrane-derived MSCs showed a higher rate for osteogenic differentiation; chorionic plate-derived MSCs presented better adipogenic induction efficiency; and all these three neonatal MSCs exhibited similar chondrogenic potential. Moreover, by the analysis of global gene expression patterns, we speculated a possible higher proliferation ability of CP-MSCs in SFM, and we subsequently validated this conjecture. CONCLUSIONS: Collectively, these results suggest that MSCs of different neonatal origins possess different biological features in SFM and thus may represent an optimal choice for different clinical applications. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13287-018-1104-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.