Maintenance of undifferentiated state of mesenchymal stem cells using amino acids for the regulation of stem cell aging

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K15708
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Prosthodontics/ Dental materials science and
• Research Institution: Okayama University
• Principal Investigator: Kuboki Takuo 岡山大学, 医歯薬学総合研究科, 教授 (00225195)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: アミノ酸 / 骨髄由来間葉系幹細胞

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Amino acids are essential for life and cell metabolism. We hypothesized that amino acids can regulate the stem cell phenotype and we performed a screening and found tryptophan as stemness regulator of BMSCs. Indeed, migration and colony forming ability of BMSCs was enhanced by tryptophan treatment. In vivo mice bone defect model, Tryptophan accelerated bone healing, and increased bone volume and trabecular number compared to PBS-injected group. In summary, L-tryptophan enhances the stemness and osteoblastic differentiation of BMSCs, and may be used as an essential factor to accelerate bone healing and/or prevent bone loss, such as in the case of ageing and osteoporosis.

Free Research Field

歯科補綴学