Mesenchymal stem cells isolated from the human bone marrow: Cultivation, phenotypisation and changes in proliferation kinetics

Abstract

Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) are rare elements living in various organs (e.g. bone marrow), able to differentiate into specialized tissues, such as bone, cartilage and adipocytes. More primitive progenitor cells were characterized, able to give rise not only to limb-bud mesoderm, but also to cells of visceral mesoderm. Those cells were named mesodermal progenitor cells (MPCs).

The aim of our study was to characterize and compare the biological properties and spontaneous differentiation potential of two different cell types (MSCs and MPCs) isolated from the human vertebral body bone marrow. The results of our experiments proved that the MPCs can be expanded beyond Hayflick's limit and differed from MSCs in morphology, biological and phenotypic characteristics.

Because of their high proliferative and differentiation potential, MPCs can become more attractive source of adult stem cells for therapeutic purposes.