WANI Dictionary

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)

Human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs; also called mesenchymal stromal cells) are cells that meet the following three criteria.

1. These cells should exhibit plastic adherence.
2. These cells should be positive for CD73, CD90, and CD105 and negative for CD14, CD34, CD45, and HLA-DR.
3. These cells should have the ability to differentiate in vitro into adipocytes, chondrocytes, and osteoblasts.

hMSCs were first derived from bone marrow [3]. MSCs can differentiate into various types of cells including adipocytes, myocytes, osteoblasts, and chondrocytes.

Definitions in the literature

• ... are multipotent progenitors present in the bone marrow stroma and in subcutaneous abdominal fat, an abundant and easily accessible source of MSCs with the ability to differentiate along multiple lineage pathways [1].
• Still there is neither a single definition nor a quantitative assay to help in the identification of MSCs in mixed population of cells. However, the International So- ciety for Cellular Therapy has proposed minimum criteria to define MSCs... [2; describing the three criteria].