Derivation of Equine Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells via the Neural Crest Pathway and Characterisation by Immunophenotype and Tri-Lineage Differentiation.

Overview

Authors: Elvira Bernad¹, Belén Serrano¹, Arantza Vitoria^1,2, Sara Fuente^1,2, Antonio Romero^1,2, Francisco José Vázquez^1,2, Pilar Zaragoza¹, Clementina Rodellar¹, Alina Cequier^1,2, Laura Barrachina^1,2

ORCID iDs: Elvira Bernad, Belén Serrano, Arantza Vitoria, Sara Fuente, Francisco José Vázquez, Pilar Zaragoza, Clementina Rodellar, Alina Cequier, Laura Barrachina

Laboratorio de Genética Bioquímica-LAGENBIO (Universidad de Zaragoza), Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón-IA2 (Universidad de Zaragoza-CITA), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Aragón-IISA, 50013 Zaragoza, Spain; (E.B.); (B.S.); (A.V.); (S.F.); (A.R.); (F.J.V.); (P.Z.); (C.R.); (L.B.)
Servicio de Cirugía y Medicina Equina, Hospital Veterinario, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50013 Zaragoza, Spain

Institutions: Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain); Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentaria de Aragón (Spain); Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Aragón (Spain)

Journal: Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, volume 16, issue 11, article 1618

Dates: received 14 April 2026; accepted 21 May 2026; published online 26 May 2026

Type: Research article · Language: English

License: CC BY

Identifiers: DOI 10.3390/ani16111618 · PMID 42278052 · PMCID PMC13255804 · OpenAlex W7162436929

Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)

Status: data only

Categories: human (organism), other (organism)

Methods: Statistics

Keywords: horse, iPSC, MSC, neural crest, differentiation, pluripotency, gene expression

Topic: Mesenchymal stem cell research (Genetics, Medicine), according to OpenAlex

Funding: Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (PID2020-116352GB-I00, RYC2024-050527-I); Gobierno de Aragón; NextGenerationEU; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Aragón (IIS Aragón); Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón (IA2); MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033; ESF; Ramón y Cajal programme

Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 75 references in the paper

Abstract

Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) hold promise for treating different equine conditions but enter senescence during culture. Using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to derive MSC-like cells (iMSCs) can increase cell availability and diminish the need for invasive and repeated tissue harvesting. While human iMSCs are intensively studied, research on equine iMSCs (eqiMSCs) is very limited and has focused on strategies for spontaneous differentiation to obtain these cells. The aim of this study was to obtain MSC-like cells from equine iPSCs (eqiPSCs) by directing their differentiation via the neural crest pathway. The resulting eqiMSCs downregulated pluripotent gene expression compared to originating eqiPSCs, and the majority of lines met most of the standard criteria for tissue-derived MSCs (immunophenotype and tri-lineage differentiation potential). Nevertheless, eqiMSCs showed some differences from primary equine MSCs, possibly due to their different developmental origin, and displayed certain inter-line variability, which might be related to the different kinetics of independent eqiPSC lines. This study demonstrates for the first time that equine MSC-like cells (eqiMSCs) can be derived from eqiPSCs by directing their differentiation through the neural crest pathway. This constitutes an important advancement towards more sustainable sources of therapeutic cells in veterinary medicine and warrants further exploration of the functional characteristics of these novel cells.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper links to its data, not to its authors' code: see the Data section.

Tracing map

A tracing map links a paper to the code its authors published: this paper has none, so it has no map.

Data

Datasets cited

zenodo:20035832 — at Zenodo; found in “Data Availability Statement”
zenodo:20040545 — at Zenodo; found in “Data Availability Statement”

Data Availability Statement

The raw experimental data that support the findings of this study are available in Zenodo with the identifiers https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20035832 and https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20040545.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 28 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 10 authors, 7 keywords, 8 funders, 74 references.

Cite

This paper

Bernad, E., Serrano, B., Vitoria, A., Fuente, S., Romero, A., Vázquez, F. J., Zaragoza, P., Rodellar, C., Cequier, A., & Barrachina, L. (2026). Derivation of Equine Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells via the Neural Crest Pathway and Characterisation by Immunophenotype and Tri-Lineage Differentiation. Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 16(11), 1618. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani16111618

BibTeX

@article{bernad2026derivation, author = {Bernad, Elvira and Serrano, Belén and Vitoria, Arantza and Fuente, Sara and Romero, Antonio and Vázquez, Francisco José and Zaragoza, Pilar and Rodellar, Clementina and Cequier, Alina and Barrachina, Laura}, title = {{Derivation of Equine Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells via the Neural Crest Pathway and Characterisation by Immunophenotype and Tri-Lineage Differentiation}}, journal = {Animals : an open access journal from MDPI}, year = {2026}, month = may, volume = {16}, number = {11}, pages = {1618}, publisher = {Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)}, issn = {2076-2615}, doi = {10.3390/ani16111618}, url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/ani16111618}, pmid = {42278052}, pmcid = {PMC13255804} }

RIS

TY - JOUR AU - Bernad, Elvira AU - Serrano, Belén AU - Vitoria, Arantza AU - Fuente, Sara AU - Romero, Antonio AU - Vázquez, Francisco José AU - Zaragoza, Pilar AU - Rodellar, Clementina AU - Cequier, Alina AU - Barrachina, Laura TI - Derivation of Equine Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells via the Neural Crest Pathway and Characterisation by Immunophenotype and Tri-Lineage Differentiation T2 - Animals : an open access journal from MDPI J2 - Animals (Basel) PY - 2026 DA - 2026/05/26 VL - 16 IS - 11 SP - 1618 SN - 2076-2615 PB - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) DO - 10.3390/ani16111618 UR - https://doi.org/10.3390/ani16111618 LA - en ER -

CSL-JSON

{ "id": "10.3390/ani16111618", "type": "article-journal", "title": "Derivation of Equine Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells via the Neural Crest Pathway and Characterisation by Immunophenotype and Tri-Lineage Differentiation", "container-title": "Animals : an open access journal from MDPI", "author": [ { "family": "Bernad", "given": "Elvira" }, { "family": "Serrano", "given": "Belén" }, { "family": "Vitoria", "given": "Arantza" }, { "family": "Fuente", "given": "Sara" }, { "family": "Romero", "given": "Antonio" }, { "family": "Vázquez", "given": "Francisco José" }, { "family": "Zaragoza", "given": "Pilar" }, { "family": "Rodellar", "given": "Clementina" }, { "family": "Cequier", "given": "Alina" }, { "family": "Barrachina", "given": "Laura" } ], "container-title-short": "Animals (Basel)", "volume": "16", "issue": "11", "page": "1618", "DOI": "10.3390/ani16111618", "PMID": "42278052", "PMCID": "PMC13255804", "ISSN": "2076-2615", "publisher": "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)", "URL": "https://doi.org/10.3390/ani16111618", "language": "en", "issued": { "date-parts": [ [ 2026, 5, 26 ] ] } }

Contribute

The authors of this paper can claim it, correct its record and validate its tracing map, and the maintainers of its code (its owner, or a public member of its organization) correct what it says of their repository; anyone signed in can ask for its removal. Every request goes to OSCR's own machine, which answers it; your account page follows them.

Sign in with ORCID to claim this paper as one of its authors, correct its record or validate its tracing map: when the paper's metadata lists your ORCID iD, you are recognized at once. Maintainers of its code: sign in with GitHub, then claim the repository on your account page.

Request its removal

To ask OSCR to remove this record, the copies of its authors' scripts or its tracing map, use the removal request page: signed in, you say who you are, what to remove and why, then review and confirm the request. Published rules decide every request (how).

Discussion, reproductions, activity

Discussion: questions and error reports about this paper and its code, from signed-in readers and its authors. It opens with sign-in.

Reproductions: reports from readers who ran the authors' code: what they reproduced, with which environment, commit and data. It opens with sign-in.

Activity: what happens around this paper: new versions of its record, its map's validation, discussions and reproductions. It opens with sign-in.