Minimal influence of chronic inflammation on the potency and differentiation characteristics of gingiva-derived mesenchymal stem cells-An in vitro study

OBJECTIVE: Gingiva-derived mesenchymal stem cells (GMSCs) have been identified and characterized from healthy tissues. However, reports on the influence of chronic inflammation on their stemness characteristics are sparse. The present study evaluated the potency and differentiation ability of GMSCs from periodontally healthy GMSC (H-GMSC) and inflamed GMSC (I-GMSC) tissues. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Established H-GMSCs and I-GMSCs were evaluated on their potency characteristics, such as morphology, viability, proliferation rate, population doubling time, colony-forming ability, expression of stemness markers, and mesenchymal differentiation potential. RESULTS: H-GMSCs and I-GMSCs exhibited fibroblast-like morphology and showed >95% viability with high proliferation potential and shorter doubling time. H-GMSCs showed fewer and smaller colonies, whereas I-GMSCs exhibited multiple and larger colonies. The evaluation of stemness markers revealed that both H-GMSCs and I-GMSCs were weakly positive for stage-specific embryonic antigen-4, Stro1, and CD105 (Endoglin), strongly positive for CD73 and CD90, and negative for the hematopoietic cell markers, CD34 and CD45. H-GMSCs showed a slightly higher osteogenic potential when compared to I-GMSCs, while I-GMSCs had a higher adipogenic potential than H-GMSCs. CONCLUSION: The findings showed that the inflammatory environment might have a stimulatory effect on the growth kinetics and ability of colony formation in GMSCs. However, varied osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation was observed between H-GMSCs and I-GMSCs.