{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T06:26:01Z","timestamp":1790749561591,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,8,2]],"date-time":"2018-08-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1533168000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The poor and slow healing capacity of tendons requires novel strategies to speed up the tendon repair process. Hence, new and promising developments in tendon tissue engineering have become increasingly relevant. Previously, we have established a tendon progenitor cell line via ectopic expression of the tendon-related basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor Scleraxis (Scx) in human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC-Scx). The aim of this study was to directly compare the characteristics of hMSC-Scx cells to that of primary human tendon stem\/progenitors cells (hTSPCs) via assessment of self-renewal and multipotency, gene marker expression profiling, in vitro wound healing assay and three-dimensional cell sheet formation. As expected, hTSPCs were more naive than hMSC-Scx cells because of higher clonogenicity, trilineage differentiation potential, and expression of stem cell markers, as well as higher mRNA levels of several gene factors associated with early tendon development. Interestingly, with regards to wound healing, both cell types demonstrate a comparable speed of scratch closure, as well as migratory velocity and distance in various migration experiments. In the three-dimensional cell sheet model, hMSC-Scx cells and hTSPCs form compact tendinous sheets as histological staining, and transmission electron microscopy shows spindle-shaped cells and collagen type I fibrils with similar average diameter size and distribution. Taken together, hTSPCs exceed hMSC-Scx cells in several characteristics, namely clonogenicity, multipotentiality, gene expression profile and rates of tendon-like sheet formation, whilst in three-dimensional cell sheets, both cell types have comparable in vitro healing potential and collagenous composition of their three-dimensional cell sheets, making both cell types a suitable cell source for tendon tissue engineering and healing.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms19082272","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,8,3]],"date-time":"2018-08-03T03:03:15Z","timestamp":1533265395000},"page":"2272","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":31,"title":["In Vitro Comparison of 2D-Cell Culture and 3D-Cell Sheets of Scleraxis-Programmed Bone Marrow Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells to Primary Tendon Stem\/Progenitor Cells for Tendon Repair"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Chi-Fen","family":"Hsieh","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Experimental Surgery and Regenerative Medicine, Department of Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU), Nussbaumstr. 20, 80336 Munich, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zexing","family":"Yan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Experimental Trauma Surgery, Department of Trauma Surgery, University Regensburg Medical Centre, Franz-Josef-Strauss-Allee 11, 93053 Regensburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ricarda G.","family":"Schumann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory for Vitreoretinal Pathology, Department of Ophthalmology, LMU, Mathildenstra\u03b2e 8, 80336 Munich, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3859-2107","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stefan","family":"Milz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Anatomische Anstalt, Lehrstuhl II, LMU, Pettenkoferstr. 11, 80336 Munich, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Christian G.","family":"Pfeifer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Experimental Trauma Surgery, Department of Trauma Surgery, University Regensburg Medical Centre, Franz-Josef-Strauss-Allee 11, 93053 Regensburg, Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1230-3653","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Matthias","family":"Schieker","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Experimental Surgery and Regenerative Medicine, Department of Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU), Nussbaumstr. 20, 80336 Munich, Germany"},{"name":"Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research (NIBR), Translational Medicine Musculoskeletal Disease, 4056 Basel, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7588-1290","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Denitsa","family":"Docheva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Experimental Trauma Surgery, Department of Trauma Surgery, University Regensburg Medical Centre, Franz-Josef-Strauss-Allee 11, 93053 Regensburg, Germany"},{"name":"Department of Medical Biology, Medical University-Plovdiv, 15A Vassil Aprilov Blvd., 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,8,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"203","DOI":"10.1002\/bdrc.21041","article-title":"Tendon and ligament regeneration and repair: Clinical relevance and developmental paradigm","volume":"99","author":"Yang","year":"2013","journal-title":"Birth Defects Res. 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