The present study investigates the impact of biomolecules (biotin, glucose, chondroitin sulphate, proline) as supplement, (individual and in combination) on primary human meniscus cell proliferation. Primary human meniscus cells isolated from patients undergoing meniscectomy were maintained in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium (DMEM). The isolated cells were treated with above mentioned biomolecules as individual (0-100 µg/ml) and in combinations, as a supplement to DMEM. Based on the individual biomolecule study, a unique combination of biomolecules (UCM) was finalized using one way ANOVA analysis. With the addition of UCM as supplement to DMEM, meniscal cells reached 100 % confluency within 4 days in 60 mm culture plate; whereas the cells in medium devoid of UCM, required 36 days for reaching confluency. The impact of UCM on cell viability, doubling time, histology, gene expression, biomarkers expression, extra cellular matrix synthesis, meniscus cell proliferation with respect to passages and donor's age were investigated. The gene expression studies for E-cadherin and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR∆) using RT-qPCR and immunohistochemical analysis for Ki67, CD34 and Vimentin confirmed that UCM has significant impact on cell proliferation. The extracellular collagen and glycosaminoglycan secretion in cells supplemented with UCM were found to increase by 31 and 37 fold respectively, when compared to control on the 4th day. The cell doubling time was reduced significantly when supplemented with UCM. The addition of UCM showed positive influence on different passages and age groups. Hence, this optimized UCM can be used as an effective supplement for meniscal tissue engineering.
Keywords: Biomarker; Biomolecules; Collagen and GAG secretion; E-cadherin; Meniscus; PPAR.