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Stem Cells and Simulated Microgravity. S. Versari1, 2, S. Bradamante1 and A.Villa1 1 CNR Institute of Molecular Science and Technology, Milan, Italy, and  2 Department of Cardiology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

   Recent studies have demonstrated that culturing bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells under microgravity (mg) conditions modulate their proliferation and differentiation. In particular mg seems to stimulate stem cell growth without induction of cell differentiation. The aim of this study is to select the best experimental set up to reach high proliferation levels with low differentiation by comparing the effect of various modeling mg bioreactors (Rotating Wall Vessels,  NMR-compatible Reduced Gravity based bioreactor, Random Positioning Machine …).

   To this purpose we evaluated the expression of specific cellular markers. PBM mesenchymal stem cells were isolated from fresh pig bone marrow and cultured in simulated mg for periods up to 14 days.  Cells were seeded in the suitable bioreactor with/without microcarrier beads (Cytodex 3) and compared with control cultured under static conditions (1g). Cell count and markers were assayed at days 1, 4, 7 and at the end of the experiments. Culture of stem cells in simulated mg may be potentially useful in the field of stem cell biology and cell therapy.

(Supported by ESA: 14651/00/NL/SH-CCN001.)