Human perivascular stem cell-based bone graft substitute induces rat spinal fusion.

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)

Adipose tissue is an attractive source of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) because of its abundance and accessibility. We have previously defined a population of native MSCs termed perivascular stem cells (PSCs), purified from diverse human tissues, including adipose tissue. Human PSCs (hPSCs) are a bipartite cell population composed of pericytes (CD146+CD34-CD45-) and adventitial cells (CD146-CD34+CD45-), isolated by fluorescence-activated cell sorting and with properties identical to those of culture identified MSCs. Our previous studies showed that hPSCs exhibit improved bone formation compared with a sample-matched unpurified population (termed stromal vascular fraction); however, it is not known whether hPSCs would be efficacious in a spinal fusion model. To investigate, we evaluated the osteogenic potential of freshly sorted hPSCs without culture expansion and differentiation in a rat model of posterolateral lumbar spinal fusion. We compared increasing dosages of implanted hPSCs to assess for dose-dependent efficacy. All hPSC treatment groups induced successful spinal fusion, assessed by manual palpation and microcomputed tomography. Computerized biomechanical simulation (finite element analysis) further demonstrated bone fusion with hPSC treatment. Histological analyses showed robust endochondral ossification in hPSC-treated samples. Finally, we confirmed that implanted hPS

Evidence level

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

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