Mesenchymal stromal cells modulate YAP by verteporfin to mimic cartilage development and construct cartilage organoids based on decellularized matrix scaffolds

Abstract

The mechanical elasticity or stiffness of the ECM modulates YAP activity to regulate the differentiation of stem cells during the development and defect regeneration of cartilage tissue. However, the understanding of the scaffold-associated mechanobiology during the initiation of chondrogenesis and hyaline cartilaginous phenotype maintenance remains unclear. In order to elucidate such mechanisms to promote articular cartilage repair by producing more hyaline cartilage, we identify the relationship between YAP subcellular localization and variation of the cartilage structure and organization during the early postnatal explosive growth in incipient articular cartilage. Next, we prepared a decellularized cartilage scaffold with different stiffness (2–33 kPa) to investigate the effect of scaffold stiffness on the formation of hyaline cartilage by mesenchymal stem cells and the change of YAP activity. Furthermore, we simulated the decrease of cellular YAP activity during postnatal cartilage development by inhibiting YAP activity with verteporfin, and realized that the timing of drug incorporation was critical to regulate the differentiation of MSCs to hyaline chondrocytes and inhibit their hypertrophy and fibrosis. On this basis, we constructed hyaline cartilage organoids by decellularized matrix scaffolds. Collectively, the results herein demonstrate that YAP plays a critical role during in vitro chondrogenic differentiation which is tightly regulated by biochemical and mechanical regulation.