The Biological Characteristics of Placenta Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Cultured in Human Serum
Sermporn Thaweesapphithak MSc*, Chairat Tantrawatpan PhD*,**, Pakpoom Kheolamai MD, PhD*,**, Duangrat Tantikanlayaporn PhD*,**, Sirikul Manochantr PhD*,**
Affiliation : * Division of Cell Biology, Department of Preclinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University, Pathumthani, Thailand ** Center of Excellence in Stem Cell Research, Thammasat University, Pathumthani, Thailand
Objective : Evidence exists indicating that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are promising candidate for therapeutic applications.
One major obstacle for their clinical use is the biosafety of fetal bovine serum (FBS), which is a crucial part of all media
currently used for culture of MSCs. Although some recent studies recommended substituting FBS with human serum (HS) for
the expansion of MSCs for clinical use, the characteristics and functional capacity of the expanded cells has only been partially
explored. In addition, limited experience indicates that HS may replace FBS in some but not all culture systems. Currently,
relatively little is known about using HS instead of FBS for isolation and expansion of placenta derived MSCs. Therefore, this
study aimed to compare the exploit of HS and FBS as a supplement in terms of their impact on biological characteristics of
MSCs.
Material and Method: MSCs derived from placenta were cultured in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium supplemented
with 10% fetal bovine serum or 10% human serum. The morphology, the expression of MSC markers, the differentiation
ability and the proliferation characteristics were examined.
Results : The results demonstrated that MSCs cultured in DMEM supplemented with 10% HS had similar characteristics to
MSCs cultured in DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS. Interestingly, MSCs cultured in DMEM supplemented with 10% HS
had greater expansion potential than that of MSCs cultured in DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS.
Conclusion : The results obtained from this study imply some application in the use of HS instead of FBS for expansion of
placenta derived MSCs. The HS-expanded MSCs might be useful and safe for use as a therapeutic tool in regenerative
medicine.
Keywords : Mesenchymal stem cell, Human serum, Placenta
