Background: Wharton's Jelly Mesenchymal Stem Cells (WJMSc) are potential renewable source of cells in replacement therapies of many diseases. Different biomaterials have been used as a scaffold to mimic the stem cell niche, which is important for promoting cellular interactions, cell proliferation and differentiation. Encapsulation involves entrapment of living cells within the semi-permeable membrane for the exchange of nutrients, oxygen and stimuli, whereas antibodies and host immune cells are kept out. In this study, a new approach for culturing and differentiating Wharton's Jelly Mesenchymal Stem Cells to definitive endoderm in a three dimensional environment using alginate capsules is presented.

Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, Wharton's Jelly Mesenchymal Stem Cells were capsulated and Trypan blue exclusion method was applied to determine cells viability. Then, encapsulated cells have been cultured in medium contain differentiating factors and to investigate the expression of definitive endoderm related genes, Real- time PCR was performed.

Results: The encapsulation procedure did not alter the morphology and viability of the encapsulated cells. Post-differentiation analysis confirmed the expression of FOXa2 and SOX17 as definitive endoderm specific markers.

Conclusion: Alginate has potential to be used as a three dimensional scaffold for culturing and differentiation of WJMSCs to definitive endoderm.