Autologous serum for isolation and expansion of human mesenchymal stem cells for clinical use.

Objective: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are promising candidates for cell-based therapies. One major obstacle for their clinical use is the biosafety of fetal calf serum (FCS), which is a crucial part of all media currently used for the culture of MSC.

Methods: Nine donors each contributed 5 mL of bone marrow aspirate.