Localization of Hematopoietic Stem Cells in Coculture with Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Impacts on Phenotype and Cell Cycle Status

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) are defined by their capacity of self-renewal and differentiation. In recent years it became clear that cell to cell contact mediated communication between mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) and HSC is important for homeostasis of hematopoiesis. MSC play a crucial role in the so called bone marrow niche giving rise to the majority of marrow stromal cell lineages. In vitro we investigated the impact of MSC on CD34 purified HSC expansion and differentiation demonstrating a promoting impact of MSC on adherent HSC in comparison to non adherent HSC in terms of phenotype, migration capacity and clonogenicity. Performing phase contrast microscopy and confocal microscopy we are able to distinguish HSC which are located on the surface of a MSC monolayer (phase-bright cells) and HSC which are covered by MSC monolayer (phase-dim cells). Both HSC fractions and the non-adherent cells were isolated separately by performing serial washing steps. All three fractions were analyzed at fixed time points during the first week of co-culture in term of cell cycle progression, proliferation, maturation and cell division accompanied differentiation. First we performed propidium iodide (PI) staining for cell cycle analysis revealing that the phase-bright cells contained the highest percentage of G2 cells in comparison to the non adherent cells and the phase-dim cells; 13.9 ±1.0% vs 1.3 ±1.2% vs 2.7 ±2.0%, p<0.001. The data indicate the facilitating impact of MSC on HSC in performing mitosis which is however depending on the location of interaction. When HSC are released into supernatant (non adherent cells) or covered by MSC, G2 phase was significantly down-regulated. Next we studied the proliferation capacity of the separate cell fractions. Consistent with the data of cell cycle, cell number of phase-bright faction increased much faster than the other two fractions during the first 4 days suggesting that the MSC surface in vitro is the predominant location of HSC proliferation. Next we investigated the phenotype of HSC. According to FACS analysis results (CD34+CD38-) phase-dim cells revealed a more immature phenotype in comparison to the non adherent cells and the phase-bright cells. During the first four days 80% of phase-dim cells remained CD34+CD38-, while cells of the phase-bright- and the non adherent fraction exhibited a significant more mature phenotype. Performing cell division tracking using CFSE we were able to show that over time number of divisions of phase-dim cells were significantly diminished in comparison to the other two cell fractions in co-cultures. In addition, phase-dim cells started to lose CD34 at the 7^th generation, while non-adherent and phase-bright cells already lost CD34 at the 4^th generation. These data suggest that “stemness” of HSC was rather preserved in the cell fraction which was covered by MSC monolayer than in the cell fraction on the surface of MSC. In conclusion we demonstrate HSC in distinct locations in vitro showing different behaviors in terms of phenotype and proliferation. It becomes evident that not only the cell to cell contact matters but also the localization of contact. Further experiments are needed to investigate NOD/SCID repopulation potential of the different cell fractions.