Amniotic mesenchymal stem cells mitigate osteoarthritis progression in a synovial macrophage‐mediated in vitro explant coculture model

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a disease of the synovial joint marked by chronic, low-grade inflammation leading to cartilage destruction. Regenerative medicine strategies for mitigating OA progression and/or promoting cartilage regeneration must be assessed using models that mimic the hallmarks of OA. More specifically, these models should maintain synovial macrophage phenotype in their native micro-environment. Herein, an in vitro coculture model of patient-matched human OA cartilage and synovium was assessed for viability, macrophage phenotype, and progressive cartilage destruction in the presence of an inflammatory milieu. Additionally, the influence of synovial macrophages and their polarization within the model was defined using depletion studies. Finally, the model was used to compare the ability of human amniotic stem cells (hAMSCs) and human adipose stem cells (hADSCs) to mitigate OA progression. OA cocultures demonstrated progressive and significant reductions in chondrocyte viability and cartilage glycosaminoglycan content within a proinflammatory environment. Selective depletion of synovial macrophages resulted in significant decreases in M1:M2 percentage ratio yielding significant reductions in concentrations of interleukin-1 beta, matrix metalloproteinase-13 and attenuation of cartilage damage. Finally, hAMSCs were found to be more chondroprotective versus hADSCs as indicated by significantly improved OA chondrocyte viability (89.8 ± 2.4% vs. 58.4 ± 2.4%) and cartilage glycosaminoglycan content (499.0 ± 101.9 μg/mg dry weight vs. 155.0 ± 26.3 μg/mg dry weight) and were more effective at shifting OA synovial macrophage M1:M2 ratio (1.3:1 vs. 5:1), respectively. Taken together, the coculture model mimics salient features of OA, including macrophage-mediated cartilage destruction that was effectively abrogated by hAMSCs but not hADSCs.