Comparing mesenchymal stromal cells from different human tissues: bone marrow, adipose tissue and umbilical cord blood.

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) are currently in focus because of their clinical potential in cell therapy and tissue engineering. As yet bone marrow represents the main source of MSC for both experimental and clinical studies. However, it is speculated that the clinical value might be diminished as both the number of MSC and their differentiation capacity decline with age. Alternatively, MSC have been successfully isolated from nearly every tissue attempted so far. Our work is focused on comparing MSC derived from human adult bone marrow, lipoaspirate as well as cord blood in terms of being alternatives containing high precursor frequencies and youngest adult cells. Applying identical culture conditions, major differences were observable in the frequencies and expansion potential, whereas basic biological features were comparable. Since all three tissues have been shown to contain multipotential cells we consider aspects such as isolation efficacy, frequency and expansion potential may more likely affect MSC clinical exploitation.