From: Wu, X., Kang, H., Liu, X., Gao, J., Zhao, K., & Ma, Z. (2016). Serum and xeno‐free, chemically defined, no‐plate‐coating‐based culture system for mesenchymal stromal cells from the umbilical cord. Cell proliferation, 49(5), 579-588.

In this study, a serum-free, xeno-free, completely chemically defined and no-plate- coating-based culture system is reported for the isolation and expansion of UCMSCs, whose biological characteristics were evaluated and compared with serum-containing medium (SCM) methods.

Wu et al (2020) Derivation of clinical-grade mesenchymal stromal cells from umbilical cord under chemically defined culture condition – platform for future clinical application. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcyt.2020.03.431

Highlights

• We develop a serum-free, xeno-free and chemically defined medium (S&XFM-CD) by replacing all serum components with synthetic alternatives for the derivation of clinical-grade umbilical cord-derived MSCs (UCMSCs).

• UCMSCs in S&XFM-CD retain basis characteristics and immunosuppressive potential, and exhibit superior self-renewal capacity, osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation potential and secretion levels of bFGF, PDGF-BB and IGF-1 compared with SCM.

• The S&XFM-CD developed here may serve as a clinical-grade production platform of UCMSCs for future clinical application.