The use of retropatellar fat pad-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (RFMSCs) for cell-based therapy, particularly for cartilage repair, has been reported by several investigators in recent years. However, the effects of the donor's age and medical condition on the characteristics of RFMSCs have not been well established. The aim of this study was to determine whether age and medical condition can reduce the multipotential of stem cells isolated from the retropatellar fat pad.
The RFMSCs were isolated from patients with osteoarthritic knee cartilage (degenerative group; 40-60 years old) and compared with patients without degenerative knee disease (young group; <40 years old) in terms of their growth kinetics, immunophenotype, differentiation ability and stemness gene expression.
Data showed that RFMSCs from both groups have similar growth kinetics and immunophenotype profile at passage 3. However, RFMSCs from the degenerative group showed lower adipogenic, osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation ability compared with RFMSCs derived from the young group. The stemness gene expression level of RFMSCs derived from the degenerative group was lower than that in the young group. RFMSCs from both groups met the minimum criteria of mesenchymal stromal cells and have the potential for cartilage regeneration. However, RFMSCs from the degenerative group showed lower regeneration capability.
These results indicate that older age and osteoarthritic condition did affect the multipotential of stem cells derived from the retropatellar fat pad under the current prescribed condition. More studies will be conducted to clarify whether the age or medical condition contributed more to the loss of differentiation capacity and stemness gene expression of RFMSCs.