Characterisation of Cultured Mesothelial Cells Derived from the Murine Adult Omentum

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 11; no. 7; p. e0158997
• Main Authors: Dauleh, Sumaya, Santeramo, Ilaria, Fielding, Claire, Ward, Kelly, Herrmann, Anne, Murray, Patricia, Wilm, Bettina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 12.07.2016; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adipocytes; Adipocytes - cytology; Adipogenesis; Animals; Biocompatibility; Biology; Biology and Life Sciences; Biomarkers - metabolism; Biomedical materials; Cell culture; Cell Differentiation; Cell Lineage; Cells, Cultured; Epithelial Cells - cytology; Epithelial Cells - metabolism; Female; Gene Expression Regulation; Genetic aspects; Homeostasis; Kidneys; Markers; Medical personnel; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mesenchymal stem cells; Mesenchymal Stem Cells - cytology; Mesenchyme; Methods; Mice; Muscles; Omentum; Omentum - cytology; Osteoblasts - cytology; Osteogenesis; Physiological aspects; Physiology; Pregnancy; Research and Analysis Methods; Senescence; Smooth muscle; Stem cells; Stromal cells; United Kingdom; United Kingdom > UK
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0158997

The human omentum has been long regarded as a healing patch, used by surgeons for its ability to immunomodulate, repair and vascularise injured tissues. A major component of the omentum are mesothelial cells, which display some of the characteristics of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells. For instance, lineage tracing studies have shown that mesothelial cells give rise to adipocytes and vascular smooth muscle cells, and human and rat mesothelial cells have been shown to differentiate into osteoblast- and adipocyte-like cells in vitro, indicating that they have considerable plasticity. However, so far, long-term cultures of mesothelial cells have not been successfully established due to early senescence. Here, we demonstrate that mesothelial cells isolated from the mouse omentum could be cultured for more than 30 passages. While epithelial markers were downregulated over passages in the mesothelial cells, their mesenchymal profile remained unchanged. Early passage mesothelial cells displayed clonogenicitiy, expressed several stem cell markers, and up to passage 5 and 13, respectively, could differentiate along the adipogenic and osteogenic lineages, demonstrating stem/progenitor characteristics and differentiation potential.