Bioluminescence-mediated longitudinal monitoring of adipose-derived stem cells in a large mammal ex vivo organ culture.

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Recently, ex vivo three-dimensional organ culture systems have emerged to study the physiology and pathophysiology of human organs. These systems also have potential as a translational tool in tissue engineering; however, this potential is limited by our ability to longitudinally monitor the fate and action of cells used in regenerative therapies. Therefore, we investigated luciferase-mediated bioluminescence imaging (BLI) as a non-invasive technique to continuously monitor cellular behavior in ex vivo whole organ culture. Goat adipose-derived stem cells (gADSCs) were transduced with either Firefly luciferase (Fluc) or Gaussia luciferase (Gluc) reporter genes and injected in isolated goat intervertebral discs (IVD). Luciferase activity was monitored by BLI for at least seven days of culture. Additionally, possible confounders specific to avascular organ culture were investigated. Gluc imaging proved to be more suitable compared to Fluc in monitoring gADSCs in goat IVDs. We conclude that BLI is a promising tool to monitor spatial and temporal cellular behavior in ex vivo organ culture. Hence, ex vivo organ culture systems allow pre-screening and pre-validation of novel therapeutic concepts prior to in vivo large animal experimentation. Thereby, organ culture systems can reduce animal use, and improve the speed of innovation by overcoming technological, ethical and financial chal

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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