Optimization of the processing of porcine platelet-rich plasma and its application on human mesenchymal stem cell cultivation

•We derived a porcine platelet-rich plasma (P-PRP) from valueless porcine blood.•The P-PRP owns twofold expansion rate and viability than fetal bovine serum FBS.•P-PRP would be reducing the environmental impact of blood waste in slaughterhouse.•P-PRP would be mitigating the ethical and scientific controversies of FBS.

Because of ethical and scientific controversy, the utilization of fetal bovine serum (FBS) for cell culture medium must be minimized. This study develops porcine platelet-rich plasma (P-PRP) as a FBS substitute for human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) cultivation. Concentrating porcine blood by serial centrifugation to obtain P-PRP leads to activation by different agonist combinations to stimulate the secretion of growth factors. The concentration of growth factor in P-PRP is significantly increased by activation (p < 0.05). The concentration of PDGF, KGF and TGF-β in activated P-PRP is significantly higher than that in FBS. Design-expert was used to decide whether Co−T+Ca−, Co+T−Ca−, and Co+T+Ca− are optimal agonist formulations. MSC cultivation shows that the attachment rate, proliferation rate and viability of P-PRP supplemented media are significantly higher than those for FBS-supplemented and commercial media (p < 0.05). The results demonstrate that P-PRP is an optimal FBS substitute that supports in vitro h-MSCs expansion for subsequent biomedical applications.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide