Combined platelet and plasma derivatives enhance proliferation of stem/progenitor cells maintaining their differentiation potential.
BACKGROUND AIMS
Platelet derivatives have been proposed as alternatives to animal sera given that for cell therapy applications, the use of fetal bovine/calf serum (FBS/FCS) is subjected to severe limitations for safety and ethical concerns. We developed a cell culture medium additive obtained by the combination of two blood-derived standardized components.


METHODS
A platelet lysate (PL) and a platelet-poor plasma (PPP) were produced in a lyophilized form. Each component was characterized for its growth factor content (platelet-derived growth factor-BB/vascular endothelial growth factor). PL and PPP were used as single components or in combination in different ratio at cumulative 5% final concentration in the culture medium.


RESULTS
The single components were less effective than the component combination. In primary cell cultures (bone marrow stromal cells, adipose derived adult stem cells, osteoblasts, chondrocytes, umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stromal cells, lymphocytes), the PL/PPP supplement promoted an increased cell proliferation in respect to the standard FCS culture in a dose-dependent manner, maintaining the cell functionality, clonogenicity, phenotype and differentiative properties throughout the culture. At a different component ratio, the supplement was also used to support proliferation of a cell line (U-937).


CONCLUSIONS
The PL/PPP supplement is an efficient cell culture medium additive that can replace FCS to promote cell proliferation. It can outdo FCS, especially when adopted in primary cultures from tissue biopsies. Moreover, the dual component nature of the supplement allows the researcher to determine the more appropriate ratio of the two components for the nutritional and functional requirements of the cell type of interest.
['Muraglia|Anita|A|', 'Todeschi|Maria Rosa|MR|', 'Papait|Andrea|A|', 'Poggi|Alessandro|A|', 'Spanò|Raffaele|R|', 'Strada|Paolo|P|', 'Cancedda|Ranieri|R|', 'Mastrogiacomo|Maddalena|M|']
D000328:Adult D053687:Adult Stem Cells D000818:Animals D000077214:Becaplermin D001792:Blood Platelets D002417:Cattle D018929:Cell Culture Techniques D002454:Cell Differentiation D002457:Cell Extracts D002460:Cell Line D049109:Cell Proliferation D019902:Chondrocytes D016895:Culture Media, Serum-Free D006801:Humans D059630:Mesenchymal Stem Cells D010006:Osteoblasts D010949:Plasma D020574:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-sis D013601:T-Lymphocytes D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A
proliferation differentiation platelet lysate platelet-poor plasma fetal calf serum stem progenitor cells