Usefulness of Wharton’s Jelly, Cord Blood, and Adipose Tissue as Alternative Sources of Mesenchymal Stem Cells.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a highly promising source of adult stem cells for purposes of cell therapy and tissue repair in the field of regenerative medicine. Although the most studied and accessible source of MSC is the bone marrow, the clinical use of bone marrow-derived MSCs (BMSCs) has presented problems, including pain, morbidity, and low cell number upon harvest. For those reasons, we isolated, cultured, and characterized MSCs from a number of tissues; including wharton’s jelly, cord blood, and adipose tissues that were discarded routinely in the past, and evaluated the usefulness of these MSCs compared to BMSCs. Proliferation ability of Wharton’s jelly-derived MSCs (WJ-MSCs), Cord blood-derived MSCs (CB-MSCs), or adipose tissue-derived MSCs (ASCs) was lost at passage 8–10 (22–27 population doubling), passage 7–10, or passage 7–12 (45–50 population doubling), respectively. WJ-MSCs, CB-MSCs, and ASCs expressed CD73, CD90, and CD105, CD90, CD105, and CD166, and CD44, CD73, CD90, and CD166, respectively, were absent for CD14, CD31, and CD45, and differentiated into osteoblast, adipocyte, and chondrogenic lineages under appropriate culture condition. In this study, like BMSCs, WJ-MSCs, CB-MSCs, and ASCs expressed similar cell surface antigens, were able to differentiate into mesenchymal lineages, and possessed highly proliferation potential. Therefore, MSCs isolated from wharton’s jelly, cord blood, and adipose tissue may become useful alternative sources of MSCs to cell therapy and tissue repair in the field of regenerative medicine.