Chondrogenic differentiation in femoral bone marrow-derived mesenchymal cells (MSC) from elderly patients suffering osteoarthritis or femoral fracture

This study analyzed the phenotype and the chondrogenic differentiation of bone marrow-derived MSCs from old patients undergoing knee osteoarthritis or femoral fracture surgery. Twenty patients (12 females), with a mean age of 77.35 ± 8.76 years, were studied. Ten patients suffered of knee osteoarthritis (OA) pathology and underwent surgery for arthroplasty, and the other 10 patients suffered femoral fracture. A comparative study of bone marrow-derived cultured human MSCs was carried out, and the main morphological parameters, proliferative activity and expression of surface markers were characterized. Bone marrow was obtained from the femur in all cases. The χ2-test, Mann–Whitney U-test, correlation coefficient and the Spearman test were applied. Bone marrow MSCs from old patients were able to differentiate into chondrocytic lineages. Proliferation and flow cytometry data showed no difference associated to the gender. No significant differences between the knee arthroplasty group or the femoral fracture group were found, except for higher CD49d % in MSC from fracture, and higher CD49f % in MSC from knee OA patients at passage one. MSCs from old patients suffering knee OA can be differentiated into chondrocytic lineages, and these present no differences with MSCs from femoral fracture patients.