It's not the cells but the eyes he would need to have Rinnengan, this is from Naruto wiki:
Because the Rinnegan was wielded by the Sage of the Six Paths, merging
the chakra of his two sons, Indra Ōtsutsuki and Asura Ōtsutsuki,
within one's body brings forth the Sage's chakra, which can evolve
their Sharingan into the Rinnegan. This was proven when Madara
Uchiha, Indra's reincarnation at the time, awakened the dōjutsu from
his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan by infusing the DNA of Hashirama Senju,
Asura's reincarnation at the time, into his body; however, it did not
manifest until many years later when he was near death. At some
point after this, Madara would implant his eyes into Nagato — a young
boy of Senju lineage.
Also there is a theory from Orochimaru and Kabuto, that says Sharingan came from Rinnegan, so without these eyes no Rinnegan:
They theorised that because the Sharingan originated from the Rinnegan, it
was possible for the dōjutsu to change into the Rinnegan as part of a
"natural evolution"