Investigation of the Potential of Melinjo and Turmeric Extracts as Alternative Growth Factors for Differentiation of WJ-MSCs into Osteocytes

Abstract

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have a strong potential for use in bone tissue engineering to treat aging-related orthopedic disorders because of their capacity to develop into osteocytes. A particular site rich in MSCs is Wharton’s Jelly (WJ), whose collection is noninvasive and has no ethical problems. Unfortunately, the commonly used supplemental growth factors for differentiating MSCs are synthetic, which may have side effects and are expensive, making stem cell therapy inaccessible to many people. Natural products such as Melinjo and Turmeric extract containing Resveratrol and Curcumin have the potential to be alternative growth factors. These bioactive compounds from other plants have been shown in previous research to promote osteogenic differentiation of MSCs. Therefore, to extend this finding, these plant extracts that are widely available in Indonesia will be investigated for their potential to induce the differentiation of WJ-MSCs into osteocytes, with the hope of developing a safer and more cost-effective growth factor. The isolation of MSCs from WJ was done using the explant method. Characterization of the isolated WJ-MSCs using flow cytometry reveals the presence of CD73, CD90, and CD105 while being negative for CD34, CD11b, CD19, CD45, and HLA-DR. Furthermore, the isolated WJ-MSCs exhibited the ability to differentiate into osteogenic, chondrogenic, and adipogenic lineages using a commercial differentiation medium product. This acts as a preliminary study and validates the suitability of the WJ-MSCs to proceed in the following studies to answer the research question of using Melinjo and Turmeric extracts as alternative growth factors.