Umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stromal cells for perinatal brain injury

Abstract

Recently, umbilical cord (UC)-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (UC-MSCs) have become an attractive cell source in regenerative medicine for many reasons including (1) no adverse events during collection, (2) ease of collection even after cord blood (CB) collection or failure to collect CB, (3) minimal ethical controversy, (4) multipotency to differentiate into various cell types, and (5) low immunogenicity with significant immunosuppressive ability. In this chapter, we provide a brief introduction of UC and UC-MSC characteristics, isolation, and cryopreservation and emphasize their potential clinical application for neurological disorders, especially perinatal brain injury.