Bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) in bone engineering: limitations and recent advances.

Bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) have been isolated for the first time by Friedenstein et al. and since then have been considered the progenitor cells for the skeletal tissues. Indeed BMSCs are clonogenic, fibroblastic in shape, and can differentiate along multiple lineages such as osteoblasts, chondrocytes, adipocytes, and hematopoiesis-supportive stroma.

Cell therapy for bone disease: a review of current status.

Bone marrow is a reservoir of pluripotent stem/progenitor cells for mesenchymal tissues. Upon in vitro expansion, in vivo bone-forming efficiency of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) is dramatically lower in comparison with fresh bone marrow, and their in vitro multidifferentiation potentials are gradually lost. Nevertheless, when BMSCs are isolated and expanded in the presence of fibroblast growth factor 2, the percentage of cells able to differentiate into the osteogenic, chondrogenic, and adipogenic lineages is greater.

Osteogenic potential of rat spleen stromal cells.

Evidence is mounting that an increasing number of cell populations in the adult organism already committed and/or differentiated retain the ability to reprogram themselves and give rise to a different phenotype. Bone marrow stromal cells have long been recognized as early progenitor cells for osteoblasts, chondrocytes, hematopoietic-supportive fibroblasts and adipocytes. Recent reports though have demonstrated a potential of cell populations outside the bone marrow environment to sustain bone formation under specific circumstances.

Bone marrow stromal cells and their use in regenerating bone.

Tissue engineering approaches have recently been devised to repair large bone losses. Tissue engineering takes advantages of the combined use of cultured living cells and 3D scaffolds to deliver vital cells to the damaged site of the patient. Cultured bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) can be regarded as a mesenchymal progenitor/precursor cell population derived from adult stem cells.