A Preliminary Study on Evaluating Reparative Regeneration Potential of Human Amniotic Fluid Stem Cells Spheres in Stress Urinary Incontinence Rats.

Authors

Shing-Hwa Lu, Shiaw-Min Hwang, Navneet Kumar Dubey, Ming-Song Tsai, Tien-Fu Yun, Jiunn-Wang Liao

Published in

International journal of stem cells. Jul 09, 2026. Epub Jul 09, 2026.

Abstract

Recent reports indicate that stem cell spheres might offer enhanced therapeutic benefits by promoting cell engraftment ability, stemness, angiogenesis, and chemotaxis. Hence, we investigated whether amniotic fluid stem cells (AFSC) spheres could provide therapeutic benefits in stress urinary incontinence (SUI) due to their urethral sphincter-specific commitment. The isolated human AFSCs were characterized by flow-cytometry-based immunophenotyping and their multidifferentiation potential (osteo-, adipo-, and chondrogenic lineages). Time-dependent (>12, 16∼20, and 48 hours) culture conditions for AFSCsphere formation were optimized. Urodynamic parameters, including leak point pressure (LPP) and intercontraction interval (ICI), were determined. hAFSCsphere with ∼150 μm diameter with minimal core necrosis at 16∼20 hours was found optimal for therapeutic application in the pudendal nerve injury-induced SUI rat model. The AFSCs demonstrated mesenchymal stem cell characteristics and multi-differentiation capabilities with retained levels of pluripotency and neural progenitor markers, SOX2 and nestin, respectively. Compared to AFSC, the AFSCsphere group showed superior LPP and ICI in rats; however, with either modest, relatively low, or unchanged levels of myogenic-lineage genes (myf5, myoD, myogenin, and desmin) between them. Bladder and external urethral sphincter histologic architecture were also improved. Notably, AFSCsphere showed the elevated levels of secetome (VEGF, IL-6, IL-8, IL-9, and MIP-1β) than AFSC, when compared to control. This could be attributed to non-myogenic pathways, such as paracrine dominance, including anti-inflammatory, angiogenic, or neurotrophic. Conclusively, our study revealed that AFSCsphere may improve urodynamics despite a significant increase in myogenic regulatory factor expression. Therefore, future studies should quantify AFSCsphere-specific properties, like stemness and cell-cell interactions, in reaching enhanced therapeutic outcomes.

PMID:
42422938
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 09 Jul 2026.

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