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Morphological characteristics of young and old murine hematopoietic stem cell niches, as modeled in vitroMojca Justin,
Ema Rogac Randl,
Veno Kononenko,
Matej Hočevar,
Damjana Drobne,
Primož Rožman, 2023, original scientific article
Abstract: The hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) niche undergoes detrimental changes with age. The molecular differences between young and
old niches are well studied and understood; however, young and old niches have not yet been extensively characterized in terms of
morphology. In the present work, a 2D stromal model of young and old HSC niches isolated from bone marrow was investigated
using light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to characterize cell density after one, two, or three weeks of culturing, cell
shape, and cell surface morphological features. Our work is aimed at identifying morphological differences between young and
old niche cells that could be used to discriminate between their respective murine HSC niches. The results show several age-
specific morphological characteristics. The old niches differ from the young ones in terms of lower cell proliferating capacity,
increased cell size with a flattened appearance, increased number of adipocytes, and the presence of tunneling nanotubes. In
addition, proliferating cell clusters are present in the young niches but not in the old niches. Together, these characteristics
could be used as a relatively simple and reliable tool to discriminate between young and old murine HSC niches and as a
complementary approach to imaging with specific cellular markers.
Keywords: bone marrow, hematoopetic stem cell niche, aging, adipocytes, scanning electron microscopy
Published in DiRROS: 26.01.2024; Views: 427; Downloads: 202
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