Mesenchymal Stem Cells: History, Isolation and Biology

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as a kind of adult stem cells possess two properties of long term selfrenewal ability and multilineage differentiation potential into skeletal cell lineages. MSCs were first isolated and described from bone marrow samples. Further investigations have identified several other tissues as alternative sources for these cells. In spite of the clinical importance of MSCs, some biological aspects of them including their self-renewal proliferation and differentiation potential have not yet been fully understood. Furthermore, the specific surface markers for these cells remained to be investigated. In present paper, the existing data regarding to the different aspects of mesenchymal stem cells including the history, isolation method, surface markers, in vitro culture and expansion of the cells, self-renewal proliferation and finally their differentiation potential have been reviewed.