A comparative study of osteogenic differentiation human induced pluripotent stem cells and adipose tissue derived mesenchymal stem cells

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have been shown to have promising capacity for stem cell therapy and tissue engineering applications. Therefore, it is essential to compare the ability of these cells with the commonly used mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) for bone tissue engineering in vitro. In this experimental study, the biological behavior and osteo- genic capacity of the iPSCs were compared with MSCs isolated from human adipose tissue (AT-MSCs) using 3-(4,5-di-methylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, Alizarin red staining, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity measurements, calcium content assay and common osteogenic-related genes. Data were reported as the mean ± SD. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the results. A p value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. There was a significant difference between the rate of proliferation of the two types of stem cells; iPSCs showed increased proliferation compared to AT-MSCs. During osteogenic differentiation, ALP activity and mineralization were demonstrated to be significantly higher in iPSCs. Although AT-MSCs expressed higher levels of Runx2, iPSCs expressed higher levels of osteonection and osteocalcin during differentiation. iPSCs showed a higher capacity for osteogenic differentiation and hold promising potential for bone tissue engineering and cell therapy applications.