Many people wonder what the best source of mesenchymal stem cells is: Bone marrow? Umbilical cord blood? Adipose or fat? Let’s look at the findings of Susan Kern, et al, from the Institute of Transfusion Medicine and Immunology, German Red Cross Blood Service of Baden-Württemberg–Hessen, Mannheim, Germany.
In a paper titled: “Comparative Analysis of Mesenchymal Stem Cells from Bone Marrow, Umbilical Cord Blood, or Adipose Tissue” Susan Kern et al, shows how stem cells from bone marrow, umbilical cord, and fat can all be used, possibly interchangeably.
Here is a small portion of the paper: “Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) represent a promising tool for new clinical concepts in supporting cellular therapy. Bone marrow (BM) was the first source reported to contain MSCs. However, for clinical use, BM may be detrimental due to the highly invasive donation procedure [In other words, they drill a hole in a bone, typically the pelvis, and suck out the bone marrow] and the decline in MSC number and differentiation potential with increasing age. More recently, umbilical cord blood (UCB), attainable by a less invasive method, was introduced as an alternative source for MSCs.” [In fact, there are numerous companies that provide umbilical cord blood storage services].
“Another promising source is adipose [or fat] tissue (AT). We compared MSCs derived from these sources regarding morphology, the success rate of isolating MSCs, colony frequency, expansion potential, multiple differentiation capacity, and immune phenotype. No significant differences concerning the morphology and immune phenotype of the MSCs derived from these sources were obvious. Differences could be observed concerning the success rate of isolating MSCs, which was 100% for BM and AT, but only 63% for UCB. The colony frequency was lowest in UCB, whereas it was highest in AT.”
“However, UCB-MSCs could be cultured longest and showed the highest proliferation capacity, whereas BM-MSCs possessed the shortest culture period and the lowest proliferation capacity. Most strikingly, UCB-MSCs showed no adipogenic differentiation capacity, in contrast to BM- and AT-MSCs. Both UCB and AT are attractive alternatives to BM in isolating MSC: AT as it contains MSCs at the highest frequency and UCB as it seems to be expandable to higher numbers.”
The exciting news is that stem cells from bone marrow, umbilical cord, and fat all show similar abilities to heal the body and don’t have the ethical problems associated with embryonic stem cells.
