Effect of hydrocortisone on multipotent human mesenchymal stromal cells.

We studied the effect of natural glucocorticosteroid hydrocortisone on total cell production, cloning efficiency, and expression of genes important for the function of mesenchymal stromal cells. Addition of hydrocortisone to the culture medium reduces the total cell yield by 2 times and significantly increased cloning efficiency by 2-3 times; this effect was more pronounced in multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells obtained from female donors. Hydrocortisone had no effect on the expression of immunomodulatory factors produced by multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells. Hydrocortisone inhibits the expression of bone differentiation markers, increases the expression of the early adipocyte differentiation marker at the beginning of culturing, and dramatically stimulates the expression of the late adipocyte differentiation marker throughout the culturing period. The findings suggest that hydrocortisone activates multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells.