Purpose
Recent years have seen dramatic increases in the techniques used to harvest and isolate
human mesenchymal stem cells. As the potential therapeutic aspects of these cells
further develop, informative data on the differences in yields between tissue harvest
sites and methods will become increasingly valuable. We collected and compared data
on cell yields from multiple tissue harvest sites to provide insight into the varying
levels of mesenchymal stem cells by tissue and offer primary and alternative tissue
types for harvest and clinical application.
Methods
The PubMed and Medline databases were searched for articles relating to the harvest,
isolation, and quantification of human mesenchymal stem cells. Selected articles were
analyzed for relevant data, which were categorized according to tissue site and, if
possible, standardized to facilitate comparison between sites.
Results
Human mesenchymal stem cell levels in tissue varied widely according to tissue site
and harvest method. Yields for adipose tissue ranged from 4,737 cells/mL of tissue
to 1,550,000 cells/mL of tissue. Yields for bone marrow ranged from 1 to 30 cells/mL
to 317,400 cells/mL. Yields for umbilical cord tissue ranged from 10,000 cells/mL
to 4,700,000 cells/cm of umbilical cord. Secondary tissue harvest sites such as placental
tissue and synovium yielded results ranging from 1,000 cells/mL to 30,000 cells/mL.
Conclusions
Variations in allogeneic mesenchymal stem cell harvest levels from human tissues reflect
the evolving nature of the field, patient demographic characteristics, and differences
in harvest and isolation techniques. At present, Wharton's jelly tissue yields the
highest concentration of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells whereas adipose tissue
yields the highest levels of autologous mesenchymal stem cells per milliliter of tissue.
Clinical Relevance
This comparison of stem cell levels from the literature offers a primer and guide
for harvesting mesenchymal stem cells. Larger mesenchymal stem cell yields are more
desirable for research and clinical application.
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
March 12,
2015
Received:
July 18,
2014
Footnotes
See commentary on page 1844
The authors report that they have no conflicts of interest in the authorship and publication of this article.
Identification
Copyright
© 2015 Arthroscopy Association of North America. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
