High Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Activity Identifies a Subset of Human Mesenchymal Stromal Cells with Vascular Regenerative Potential

During culture expansion, multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) differentially express aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), an intracellular detoxification enzyme that protects long-lived cells against oxidative stress. Thus, MSC selection based on ALDH-activity may be used to reduce heterogeneity and distinguish MSC subsets with improved regenerative potency. After expansion of human bone marrow-derived MSCs, cell progeny was purified based on low versus high ALDH-activity (ALDH(hi)) by fluorescence-activated cell sorting, and each subset was compared for multipotent stromal and provascular regenerative functions. Both ALDH(lo) and ALDH(hi) MSC subsets demonstrated similar expression of stromal cell (>95% CD73(+), CD90(+), CD105(+)) and pericyte (>95% CD146(+)) surface markers and showed multipotent differentiation into bone, cartilage, and adipose cells in vitro. Conditioned media (CDM) generated by ALDH(hi) MSCs demonstrated a potent proliferative and prosurvival effect on human microvascular endothelial cells (HMVECs) under serum-free conditions and augmented HMVEC tube-forming capacity in growth factor-reduced matrices. After subcutaneous transplantation within directed in vivo angiogenesis assay implants into immunodeficient mice, ALDH(hi) MSC or CDM produced by ALDH(hi) MSC significantly augmented murine vascular cell recruitment and perfused vessel infiltration compared with ALDH(lo) MSC. Although both subsets demonstrated strikingly similar mRNA expression patterns, quantitative proteomic analyses performed on subset-specific CDM revealed the ALDH(hi) MSC subset uniquely secreted multiple proangiogenic cytokines (vascular endothelial growth factor beta, platelet derived growth factor alpha, and angiogenin) and actively produced multiple factors with chemoattractant (transforming growth factor-beta, C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 1, 2, and 3 (GRO), C-C motif chemokine ligand 5 (RANTES), monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1), interleukin [IL]-6, IL-8) and matrix-modifying functions (tissue inhibitor of metalloprotinase 1 & 2 (TIMP1/2)). Collectively, MSCs selected for ALDH(hi) demonstrated enhanced proangiogenic secretory functions and represent a purified MSC subset amenable for vascular regenerative applications.