Biological activities encoded by the murine mesenchymal stem cell transcriptome provide a basis for their developmental potential and broad therapeutic efficacy.

We used serial analysis of gene expression to catalog the transcriptome of murine mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) enriched from bone marrow by immunodepletion. Interrogation of this database, results of which are delineated in the appended databases, revealed that immunodepleted murine MSCs (IDmMSCs) highly express transcripts encoding connective tissue proteins and factors modulating T-cell proliferation, inflammation, and bone turnover. Categorizing the transcriptome based on gene ontologies revealed the cells also expressed mRNAs encoding proteins that regulate mesoderm development or that are characteristic of determined mesenchymal cell lineages, thereby reflecting both their stem cell nature and differentiation potential.

Quantifying levels of transplanted murine and human mesenchymal stem cells in vivo by real-time PCR.

Background: Previously, we demonstrated that murine mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) injected intracranially into mice expand throughout the central nervous system (CNS). This paper describes real-time PCR (RT-PCR) assays that enables accurate quantification of transplanted cells in vivo.

Methods: RT-PCR assays that amplify sequences in the mouse Y chromosome or human Alu repeats were developed and used to quantify the number of male, murine, or human MSCs in the CNS at various times after intracranial injection into neonatal mice, or in various organs of adult mice after i.

MicroSAGE analysis of 2,353 expressed genes in a single cell-derived colony of undifferentiated human mesenchymal stem cells reveals mRNAs of multiple cell lineages.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) isolated from the bone marrow of adult organisms are capable of differentiating into adipocytes, chondrocytes, myoblasts, osteoblasts, and hematopoiesis-supporting stroma. We recently demonstrated that MSCs also adopt glial cell fates when transplanted into the developing central nervous system and hence can produce tissue elements derived from a separate embryonic layer. Despite these remarkable properties, it has been difficult to establish specific criteria to characterize MSCs.