Polylactide- and polycaprolactone-based substrates enhance angiogenic potential of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells in vitro - implications for cardiovascular repair.

Recent approaches in tissue regeneration focus on combining innovative achievements of stem cell biology and biomaterial sciences to develop novel therapeutic strategies for patients. Growing recent evidence indicates that mesenchymal stem cells harvested from human umbilical cord Wharton's jelly (hUC-MSCs) are a new valuable source of cells for autologous as well as allogeneic therapies in humans. hUC-MSCs are multipotent, highly proliferating cells with prominent immunoregulatory activity. In this study, we evaluated the impact of widely used FDA approved poly(α-esters) including polylactide (PLA) and polycaprolactone (PCL) on selected biological properties of hUC-MSCs in vitro. We found that both polymers can be used as non-toxic substrates for ex vivo propagation of hUC-MSCs as shown by no major impact on cell proliferation or viability. Moreover, PCL significantly enhanced the migratory capacity of hUC-MSCs. Importantly, genetic analysis indicated that both polymers promoted the angiogenic differentiation potential of hUC-MSCs with no additional chemical stimulation. These results indicate that PLA and PCL enhance selected biological properties of hUC-MSCs essential for their regenerative capacity including migratory and proangiogenic potential, which are required for effective vascular repair in vivo. Thus, PLA and PCL-based scaffolds combined with hUC-MSCs may be potentially employed as future novel grafts in tissue regeneration such as blood vessel reconstruction.