Umbilical Cord Wharton's Jelly Could be the Potential Precursor of Cartilage Tissue Engineering Complex

We aimed to investigate the structure and composition of human umbilical cord Wharton's jelly. Umbilical cord was obtained from the newborn in the operating room of our hospital. The transverse and longitudinal sections of umbilical cord were analyzed by hematoxylin-eosin (H & E) staining. The ultrastructure of umbilical cord Wharton's jelly was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). H & E stain and SEM observation indicate that the collagen fiber closing to the blood vessels is consistent with the direction of the blood vessels. At the peripheral of the umbilical cord, the mainly direction of the collagen fiber surrounds vessels. At the same time, the density of collagen fiber including Collagen I, Collagen II, and Collagen III from outside to inside gradually becomes dense. Furthermore, Wharton's jelly is enriched with Collagen fiber, glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), water and cells. The mean density of cells in Wharton's jelly was 2.04 x 106 cell/g, and the mean percentage of MSCs was 54.67% of all separated cells. The structure and composition of the Wharton's jelly are similar with cartilage. Therefore, Wharton's jelly is supposed to be a suitable biological material for cartilage tissue engineering.