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Abstract

Aims & Objectives: Pluripotent stem cells directed to various cell fates holds promise as source material for treating numerous disorders. The past decade has seen a surge of interest in bladder tissue engineering research, with the anticipation that it will influence future urological practice by providing functional tissue substitutes to replace diseased or dysfunctional tissues. Several studies utilize periodontal ligament-derived mesenchymal stem cells to be differentiated into several tissues including osteocytes, chondrocytes and lipocytes. The aim of this study is to extend the evidence of its ability to give rise to urothelial cells. Methods: Periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSC) were isolated and cultured in a medium containing platelet lysate, as an alternative for fetal bovine serum. The cells were cultured using osteogenic and adipogenic media. The cultures were analyzed for morphology, growth characteristics, mineralization potential and fat droplets quantification. At Passage 3-5, cells were grown in urothelium induction media and differentiation markers of urothelial cells including uroplakin II, UPIII and cytokeratin 18 were employed, using real time-polymerase chain reaction. Result: After 2 weeks in tissue culture, PDLSCs under urothelial induction media have the potential to differentiate into urothelium cells. The resultant cultured cells have shown polygonal, cobblestone-shaped morphology. Real time PCR results have shown that cells were three fold positive for uroplakins II, 4-folds for UPIII, and 2- folds positive for cytokertain 18 whilst these genes weren�t expressed in the control. Conclusion: The study has indicated that PDLSCs cultured in our conditions have the capacity to differentiate to urothelial cells and might be utilized as a valuable cell source for bladder tissue regeneration.

Biography

Nizar Abuharfeil received his PhD in Microbiology/Medical Virology from Manchester University, Manchester-UK in December 1991. During his PhD, he worked on the development of synthetic vaccine from measles virus. He prepared 8 synthetic peptides from the hemagglutinin and fusion proteins of the measles virus to be used as a vaccine for measles virus for the benefit of Proteus Biotechnology Ltd., UK.

Email: harfeil@just.edu.jo