Characterising embryonic stem cell-derived tenocytes and determining the changing role of scleraxis during tendon development
type: CreativeWork
description: Tendon injuries occur commonly in equine athletes. Adult tendons undergo poor natural regeneration, resulting in scar-tissue which is prone to re-injury. Fetal tendons however are capable of completely scar-less regeneration, a property which is intrinsic to the fetal cells themselves. Novel cell therapies should therefore try to recapitulate this scar-less fetal tendon regeneration. This thesis builds on previous research into the use of horse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) to aid tendon regeneration. The aim of this thesis was to determine if tendon cells derived from ESCs were more similar to fetal or adult tendon cells, as well as try to understand if scleraxis (SCX), an essential gene in tendon formation, has different roles at different stages of tendon development. Equine adult, fetal and ESC-derived tenocytes were cultured in a three-dimensional environment, with histological, morphological and transcriptomic differences compared. Additionally, the effects on gene expression of culturing adult and fetal tenocytes in either conventional two-dimensional monolayer culture or three-dimensional culture was compared using RNA-sequencing. No qualitative differences in three-dimensional tendon constructs generated from adult, fetal and ESCs were found using histological and morphological analysis. However, genome wide transcriptomic analysis using RNA- sequencing revealed that ESC-derived tenocytes transcriptomic profile more closely resembled fetal tenocytes as opposed to adult tenocytes. Furthermore, this thesis adds to the growing evidence that monolayer cultured cells gene expression profiles converge, with adult and fetal tenocytes having only 10 differentially expressed (DE) genes when cultured in this manner. In contrast, when adult and fetal tenocytes were cultured in three- dimensional culture, large distinctions in gene expression between these two developmental stages were found, with 542 genes being DE. The effects of knocking down the expression of SCX on …
abstract: Tendon injuries occur commonly in equine athletes. Adult tendons undergo poor natural regeneration, resulting in scar-tissue which is prone to re-injury. Fetal tendons however are capable of completely scar-less regeneration, a property which is intrinsic to the fetal cells themselves. Novel cell therapies should therefore try to recapitulate this scar-less fetal tendon regeneration. This thesis builds on previous research into the use of horse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) to aid tendon regeneration. The aim of this thesis was to determine if tendon cells derived from ESCs were more similar to fetal or adult tendon cells, as well as try to understand if scleraxis (SCX), an essential gene in tendon formation, has different roles at different stages of tendon development. Equine adult, fetal and ESC-derived tenocytes were cultured in a three-dimensional environment, with histological, morphological and transcriptomic differences compared. Additionally, the effects on gene expression of culturing adult and fetal tenocytes in either conventional two-dimensional monolayer culture or three-dimensional culture was compared using RNA-sequencing. No qualitative differences in three-dimensional tendon constructs generated from adult, fetal and ESCs were found using histological and morphological analysis. However, genome wide transcriptomic analysis using RNA- sequencing revealed that ESC-derived tenocytes transcriptomic profile more closely resembled fetal tenocytes as opposed to adult tenocytes. Furthermore, this thesis adds to the growing evidence that monolayer cultured cells gene expression profiles converge, with adult and fetal tenocytes having only 10 differentially expressed (DE) genes when cultured in this manner. In contrast, when adult and fetal tenocytes were cultured in three- dimensional culture, large distinctions in gene expression between these two developmental stages were found, with 542 genes being DE. The effects of knocking down the expression of SCX on …
author: Paterson, Yasmin Zoe
language: eng
keywords: Tendon, Equine, Stem Cells, Scleraxis
license: https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/0dbf9231-1222-4a71-b374-7e3652cf01cb/download
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2021-09-18
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:01Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.73857