Novel In Vitro Culture Condition Improves the Stemness of Human Dermal Stem/Progenitor Cells

In a study from 2013, researchers discovered that culturing human dermal stem/progenitor cells (hDSPCs) in a three-dimensional (3D) environment with a high glucose concentration (4.5 g/L) significantly improved the expression of stem cell markers SOX2, NANOG, and S100B, as well as human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), compared to two-dimensional (2D) cultures. Oxygen concentration was found to have no significant effect. The skin-derived precursor (SKP) culture medium was the most effective in maintaining and enhancing the stemness of hDSPCs. The optimized culture conditions also led to increased cell proliferation and multipotency, with more efficient differentiation into adipocytes and osteoblasts. These findings suggest that the novel culture condition could be beneficial for preserving the stemness of hDSPCs for future therapeutic applications. The study was supported by a grant from the Korea Healthcare Technology R&D Project, Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea.