Identifying human perivascular stem cell subsets

Abstract

Perivascular stem cells (PSCs) include pericytes and adventitial cells. PSCs present multiple properties. PSCs are involved in angiogenesis, immunoregulation, and haematopoiesis support and are multi-lineage progenitor cells. Therefore, PSCs are a heterogeneous group of cells. We investigated PSC subsets based on novel markers: CD10 and CD107a. We analysed whether the expression of CD10 or CD107a on PSCs from foetal muscle correlates with the capability of differentiation and fibroblast-colony forming unit (CFU-f) content. The CD10-positive or CD107apositive PSCs were separated from CD10-negative or CD107a-negative PSCs by cell sorting. CFU-f was quantified. The differentiation of PSC subsets in culture was documented by cytochemistry. We confirmed that CD10 and CD107a PSCs subsets exist in multiple human tissues. CD10-positive and CD10-negative PSC subsets show similar ability for both CFU-f potential and osteogenesis in vitro.CD107anegative cells show higher CFU-f potential. However, CD107a-positive PSCs were associated with a higher osteogenic differentiation potential in human foetal muscle in vitro. Our study provides early evidence that CD107a-positive adventitial cells present a subset that is prone to differentiate into osteoblasts.