gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are widely distributed in a variety of tissues and can be isolated. However, MSC have to be taken from a healthy organism and therefore, are rare. The aim of our studies was to confirm the presence of MSC in the human umbilical cord for the first time, to isolate them and finally, to differentiate them. It is an advantage that the umbilical cord is a “waste product” after birth that will be disposed of anyway.

Materials and methods: Term UCs were taken from 55 newborns. Each piece of UC was 10 cm long. After cleaning and preparation, an enzymatic isolation of the UCMSC was done. Those isolated cells were extracted by 300 g-centrifugation and resuspended. Cultivation of UCMSC was performed standardized. Characterization of UCMSC was possible with the help of the markers CD 13, CD 14, CD 34 and CD 105.

Results: (1) It was possible to isolate UCMSC in sufficient quantities (mean: 0.692x10e6 cells/cm UC) and (2) the cells were easily cultured. (3) The cells obtained from our experiments demonstrated a fibroblast-like phenotype. (4) They could expand when cultured and induced to differentiate into cartilage-cells, bone-cells and fat-cells. (5) The cells were found to express mesenchymal markers (like CD 13 or CD 105), but not haematopoetic lineage markers (like CD 14 and CD 34) (Figure 1 [Fig. 1]).

Conclusion: Our observations confirmed that MSC are present in the human UC and can be well differentiated. As the UC has a length of 60 cm at birth, this high quantity of material will probably provide a large quantity of UCMSC (>40x10e6 cells). We therefore consider them to be a valuable resource of highly potent cells for regenerative medicine.