Dynamic tracking of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) following intravenous administration in mice model.
Regen Ther 2024;
25:273-283. [PMID:
38314402 PMCID:
PMC10834363 DOI:
10.1016/j.reth.2024.01.003]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2023] [Revised: 01/07/2024] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 02/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction
In the past decades, human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) have sparked interest in cellular therapy due to their immunomodulatory properties. Nevertheless, the fate of hUC-MSCs in the body remains poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate the biodistribution, homing and clearance of systemically administered hUC-MSCs in healthy BALB/c mice model.
Methods
hUC-MSCs were labelled with GFP-Luc2 protein, followed by characterisation with flow cytometry. Upon intravenous infusion of transduced hUC-MSCs into the healthy BALB/c mice, the cells were dynamically monitored through the bioluminescent imaging (BLI) approach.
Results
Transduction of hUC-MSCs with GFP-Luc2 not only preserved the characteristics of MSCs, but also allowed live monitoring of transduced cells in the mice model. Upon systemic administration, BLI showed that transduced hUC-MSCs first localised predominantly in the lungs of healthy BALB/c mice and mainly remained in the lungs for up to 3 days before eventually cleared from the body. At terminal sacrifice, plasma chemistry biomarkers remained unchanged except for C-peptide levels, which were significantly reduced in the hUC-MSCs group. Histopathological findings further revealed that hUC-MSCs infusion did not cause any adverse effects and toxicity to lung, liver and heart tissues.
Conclusions
Collectively, systemically administrated hUC-MSCs was safe and demonstrated dynamic homing capacity before eventually disappearing from the body.
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