Introduction. Human multipotent mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapies are being tested clinically for a variety of disorders, including Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis, graft-versus-host disease, type 1 diabetes, bone fractures, and cartilage defects. However, despite the remarkable clinical advancements in this field, most applications still use traditional culture media containing fetal bovine serum. The ill-defined and highly variable nature of traditional culture media remains a challenge, hampering both the basic and clinical human MSC research fields. To date, no reliable serum-free medium for human MSCs has been available. Methods. In this study, we developed and tested a serum-free growth medium on human bone marrow-derived MSCs through the investigation of multiple parameters including primary cell isolation, multipassage expansion, mesoderm differentiation, cellular phenotype, and gene-expression analysis. Results: Similar to that achieved with traditional culture medium, human MSCs expanded in serum-free medium supplemented with recombinant human platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 showed extensive propagation with retained phenotypic, differentiation, and colony-forming unit potential. To monitor global gene expression, the transcriptomes of bone marrow-derived MSCs expanded under serum-free and serum-containing conditions were compared, revealing similar expression profiles. In addition, the described serum-free culture medium supported the isolation of human MSCs from primary human marrow aspirate with continual propagation. Conclusions: Although the described serum-free MSC culture medium is not free of xenogeneic components, this medium provides a substitute for serum-containing medium for research applications, setting the stage for future clinical applications. © 2010 Chase et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
CITATION STYLE
Chase, L. G., Lakshmipathy, U., Solchaga, L. A., Rao, M. S., & Vemuri, M. C. (2010). A novel serum-free medium for the expansion of human mesenchymal stem cells. Stem Cell Research and Therapy, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/scrt8
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