Rebecca Davies ( Poster and Advertise your Research )
School of Medicine
Poster
A comparison of fetal bovine serum extracellular vesicle ( FBS-EV ) depletion protocols and their effect on umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells ( UC-MSCs )
Extracellular vesicles ( EVs ) are small membrane bound particles that when derived from umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells ( UC-MSCs ) can mimic their immune modulating properties , allowing them to combat inappropriate inflammation . Fetal bovine serum ( FBS ), used to grow these cells , similarly contains EVs , meaning it can interfere with downstream analysis . To minimise this , three strategies have been explored : ultracentrifugation ( UC - high speed spinning ), ultrafiltration ( UF ) or use of media lacking FBS ( SF ). To determine the best strategy , we explored the efficiency of FBS-EV removal and their effect on UC-MSCs . Whilst UF and SF showed minimal FBS-EV contamination , there was a trend in which UC-MSCs grew slower due to lack of protein retained . Measurement of IDO , which is reflective of the cell ’ s immune potential , revealed less FBS supplementation ( UF and SF ) showed a clear trend to decrease the ability of cells to upregulate IDO . Overall , this suggests that whilst UF seemed to be the best protocol for removing FBS-EVs , but this comes at the cost of retaining FBS derived protein that supports cell growth . Furthermore , the ability to upregulate IDO was altered , suggesting the immune modulating potential of cells is affected depending on the selection of EV collection media .
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EV-press Mail
Introducing EV-press : your body ’ s natural mail system . Extracellular vesicles ( EVs ) are packaged by cells to include cargo , such as protein and RNA , that act as chemical messengers to neighbouring cells . By doing this , they can recreate the abilities of their origin cells . Therefore , our research aims to isolate these EVs , investigate their cargo ( especially that associated with combating disease states , such as inappropriate inflammation ) and determine their effectiveness in replacing cell-based therapies .
Postgraduate Conference 2021 Page 20