Isolation, cultivation, and characterization of human mesenchymal stem cells

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) exhibit a high self-renewal capacity, multilineage differentiation potential and immunomodulatory properties. This set of exceptional features makes them an attractive tool for research and clinical application. However, MSC are far from being a uniform cell type, which makes standardization difficult. The exact properties of human MSC (hMSC) can vary greatly depending on multiple parameters including tissue source, isolation method and medium composition. In this review we address the most important influence factors. We highlight variations in the differentiation potential of MSC from different tissue sources. Furthermore, we compare enzymatic isolation strategies with explants…