Review Article

Umbilical Cord as Prospective Source for Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Based Therapy

Table 4

Comparison of the differentiation potential of UC-MSCs and MSCs from other sources.

InductionParameterUC-MSCsBM-MSCsAT-MSCsReference

Osteogenic (35 days)The average number of bone nodules from one well19 ± 1.87.5 ± 1.311 ± 1.7[13]

Adipogenic (21 days)The ratio of differentiated adipocytes from the total cells45 ± 1.5%39 ± 1%52 ± 3.2%[13]

Neuronal (20 days)The number of primary neurospheres118 ± 5.280.4 ± 3.426 ± 3.12 [14]
The average size of a primary neurosphere175 ± 2.2 μm100 ± 3.2 μm57 ± 0.7 μm
The number of secondary neurospheres47 ± 4.67 ± 1.2Unable to form
The percentage of nestin+ cells91.3 ± 2%78 ± 1.2%30.3 ± 6.4%
The percentage of β III tubulin+ cells12.5 ± 0.7%5.6 ± 0.4%2.4 ± 0.4%

Neuronal (9 days) The percentage of β III tubulin+ cells94.6 ± 1.3%95 ± 1.2%ND [15]
The percentage of cells expressing neuron-specific markers c. 65% c. 65%
The level of constitutively released dopamine610 ± 21.7 pg/mL559 ± 33.5 pg/mL
The level of ATP-stimulated release of dopamine920 ± 45.6 pg/mL813.5 ± 47.7 pg/mL

Endothelial (12 days) Flk-1 expression17-fold increase6-fold increaseND [16]
vWF expression13-fold increase5-fold increase
VE-cadherin expression16-fold increase4.5-fold increase
Total tubule length of network in Matrigel angiogenesis assay15 mm11 mm

Pancreatic (3 days) Diameter of formed islet-like cell clustersLarger (100–200 μm)Smaller (<100 μm)ND [17]
The percentage of differentiated cells expressing pancreatic-specific marker C-peptide53.3%30.9%
Insulin secretion on day 1 after differentiation14 mIU/L7 mIU/L