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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Stem Cell Research
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2024.1489774
This article is part of the Research Topic Senescence and Reprogramming: Hallmarks in Aging and Disease View all articles

EMF treatment delays mesenchymal stem cells senescence during long-term in vitro expansion by modulating autophagy

Provisionally accepted
Wenxiang Cai Wenxiang Cai 1Yifan Xiao Yifan Xiao 2Jiyuan Yan Jiyuan Yan 3Hao Peng Hao Peng 1Chang Tu Chang Tu 1*
  • 1 Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
  • 2 Jianghan University, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China
  • 3 Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) are widely used in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine as seed cells. Due to low amount in bone marrow, BMSCs must be expanded and cultured in vitro before application. However, the senescence of stem cell caused by long-term in vitro culture greatly limits its efficacy of transplantation.In this study, we propose an approach based on electromagnetic fields (EMF) treatment to rejuvenate aged BMSCs due to long-term in vitro culture. Aged BMSCs were treated with sinusoidal EMF (50Hz, 0.4mT), and stem cell senescence, cell proliferation, cell differentiation, cell stemness and autophagy level were detected.Additionally, aged BMSCs-laden hydrogels were transplanted into the rat critical-sized calvarial defect with or without EMF treatment. The bone formation was evaluated 8 weeks after surgery.Our results indicated that the BMSCs age significantly after long-term in vitro passaging. The self-renew, multiple differentiation capacity, senescence phenotypes and stemness of aged BMSCs are partly reversed by EMF treatment with a frequency of 50 Hz and strength of 0.4 mT. Moreover, declined autophagy level is observed in BMSCs during long-term in vitro passaging and BMSCs senescence is closely associated with autophagy regulation. Additionally, the mechanistic investigation reveals that EMF treatment rejuvenate senescent BMSCs by enhancing autophagy.Furthermore, EMF treatment significantly promote the therapeutic effect of long-term passaged BMSCs on bone formation in vivo.Overall, our study identifies a practical approach for the rejuvenation of old BMSCs and may provide a promising candidate in tissue engineering and stem cell therapy.

    Keywords: Electromagnetic Fields, Mesenchymal Stem Cells, senescence, Autophagy, Rejuvenation

    Received: 01 Sep 2024; Accepted: 24 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Cai, Xiao, Yan, Peng and Tu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Chang Tu, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.