The significant effect of conditioned medium of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells in histological improvement of cartilage defect in Wistar rats

Introduction: Mesenchymal stem cells are multipotent cells present in multiple tissues that have potential for future disease treatment including cartilage damage. This study was aimed to investigate the effect of conditioned medium of umbilical cord stem cells in improving the histological conditions of damaged cartilage in rats. Materials and Methods: Twenty-four of 3-month old male rats that were divided into 6 groups (3 control groups and 3 treatment groups) with different evaluation time (month 2, month 3, and month 4). Treatment in each group was repeated 5 times. The cartilage defect was induced manually and mechanically at the medial condyle of rats’ right femur using a Kirschner Wire (D=1.0 mm; h=1.0 mm). The umbilical cord stem cell cultures were obtained from pregnant rats (19 days). Rats in treatment groups were injected with mesenchymal stem cell-conditioned medium (1 mL/kg BW) 5 times with interval a week after cartilage defect. Histopathological examination of chondrocytes formation and fibrosis tissues was done through Haematoxylin Eosin staining. Data were assessed with O’driscoll scoring and analyzed statistically using Kruskal-Wallis test with SPSS 16.0 software statistically using Kruskal-Wallis Test with SPSS 16.0 software. Results: The conditioned medium of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells was able to repair the damage in cartilage tissue of Wistar rats. It is indicated by the higher score of nature of predominant tissue, surface regularity, structural integrity, bonding with adjacent cartilage and the level of new tissue formed in the treatment group compared to control group. Statistically, there is a significant difference of bonding to the adjacent cartilage score (0.028, p<0.05) in treatment group than in control group. There is no significant difference of nature of the predominant tissue score (0.064, p>0.05), surface regularity (0.064, p>0.05), structural integrity (0.075, p>0.05), level of newly formed tissue (0.088, p>0.05). Conclusion: The supplementation of conditioned medium of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell ameliorate the repair of damaged cartilage.