Marker profiles of human endometrial stem cells at various passages cultured in-vitro

Abstract

Endometrium is a dynamic organ, which undergoes extensive proliferation and regeneration throughout reproductive cycle of women. Hence, extensive research on adult stem cells of endometrium is underway. An easy approach to identify stem cells is its marker characterization. However, does these markers behave same in all conditions of stem cells in-vitro is uncertain? Hence, the main objective of the study is to check if mesenchymal stem cells of the endometrium (eMSCs) could retain its marker characterization at various passages in-vitro.   The study design was accomplished as follows: The endometrial tissue (n=10) were collected from reproductively active women with a mean age of 35±1.5 and body mass index of 24±1.4, undergoing D&C/hysterectomy. Samples were collected in a sterile manner. The plastic, adherent mesenchymal stem cells obtained from culturing of the cells isolated from endometrial tissue (eMSCs) are characterized for study design was accomplished by characterizing some of the markers such as CD44, CD166, CD106, CD49d, CD31, CD54, CD34, CD117, CD90, CD105, CD73, CD140b, ABCG2 of eMSCs at various passages (P1, P3, P5 & P10) in-vitro using flowcytometry. The obtained results were analysed statistically using student’s t-test and significant results are discussed. The study identified tissue-specific markers of eMSCs, where the percentage expression of most of the markers was consistently similar at P3 and P10, expect for CD49d and CD54, which showed a reduction pattern and ABCG2, which showed an increase in percentage at P10 as compared to P3. This article reveals the significance of in-depth marker characterization of human endometrial stem cells in-vitro.