Single-Step RNA Extraction from Different Hydrogel-Embedded Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Quantitative Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction Analysis.

For many tissue engineering applications, cells such as human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) must be embedded in hydrogels. The analysis of embedded hMSCs requires RNA extraction, but common extraction procedures often produce low yields and/or poor quality RNA. We systematically investigated four homogenization methods combined with eight RNA extraction protocols for hMSCs embedded in three common hydrogel types (alginate, agarose, and gelatin).