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World J Stem Cells. Jun 26, 2019; 11(6): 337-346
Published online Jun 26, 2019. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v11.i6.337
Effect of aging on behaviour of mesenchymal stem cells
Juan Antonio Fafián-Labora, Miriam Morente-López, María C Arufe
Juan Antonio Fafián-Labora, Miriam Morente-López, María C Arufe, Grupo de Terapia Celular y Medicina Regenerativa, Departamento de Fisioterapia, Ciencias Biomédicas y Medicina, Universidade da Coruña, A Coruña 15006, Spain
Author contributions: All authors equally contributed to this paper with conception and design of the study, literature and analysis, drafting and critical revision and editing, and final approval of the final version.
Supported by Consellerí a de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria, Xunta de Galicia (Spain), Fafián-Labora JA is recipient of a postdoctoral fellowship (ED481B 2017/117).
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest. No financial support.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: María C Arufe, PhD, Professor, Grupo de Terapia Celular y Medicina Regenerativa, Departamento de Fisioterapia, Ciencias Biomédicas y Medicina, Universidade da Coruña, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Campus de Oza, INIBIC-CHUAC, A Coruña 15006, Spain. maria.arufe@udc.es
Telephone: +34-981-167399 Fax: +34-981-167398
Received: February 23, 2019
Peer-review started: February 26, 2019
First decision: March 15, 2019
Revised: March 29, 2019
Accepted: May 6, 2019
Article in press: May 6, 2019
Published online: June 26, 2019
Processing time: 124 Days and 0.4 Hours
Abstract

Organs whose source is the mesoderm lineage contain a subpopulation of stem cells that are able to differentiate among mesodermal derivatives (chondrocytes, osteocytes, adipocytes). This subpopulation of adult stem cells, called “mesenchymal stem cells” or “mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs)”, contributes directly to the homeostatic maintenance of their organs; hence, their senescence could be very deleterious for human bodily functions. MSCs are easily isolated and amenable their expansion in vitro because of the research demanding to test them in many diverse clinical indications. All of these works are shown by the rapidly expanding literature that includes many in vivo animal models. We do not have an in-depth understanding of mechanisms that induce cellular senescence, and to further clarify the consequences of the senescence process in MSCs, some hints may be derived from the study of cellular behaviour in vivo and in vitro, autophagy, mitochondrial stress and exosomal activity. In this particular work, we decided to review these biological features in the literature on MSC senescence over the last three years.

Keywords: Mesenchymal stem cells; Aging; Autophagy; Mitochondrial stress; Extracellular vesicles

Core tip: The point of interest of this work is the behaviour of the mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) through aging, which can occur over time in the culture (in vitro) or in its own physiological niche (in vivo). This review defines the current knowledge published in the MSC field that focuses mainly on the mechanisms that influence its senescence in vivo and in vitro in the last three years. Three cellular mechanisms are of special importance in this review, since they can decisively influence the behaviour of MSC in aging, such as autophagy, oxidative stress and the production of extracellular vesicles.