Mesenchymal Stem Cell Differentiation Markers

Although originally isolated from bone marrow, mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) have been recovered from multiple tissues including cord blood, peripheral blood, fallopian tube, fetal liver, and lung. MSCs are characterized by their ability to self-renew, adhere to plastic, and differentiate into adipocytes, chondrocytes, myocytes, and osteocytes. MSCs can be isolated by a variety of techniques, grown and expanded using numerous reagents, and differentiated with a range of media, proteins, and small molecules. Variations in techniques as well as differences in the MSC starting population may lead to experimental variability. To minimize experimental variability, researchers can define their starting population of cells and differentiated progeny by examining the expression of specific markers. R&D Systems offers a wide variety of marker antibodies to enable identification of MSCs, precursor and progenitor cells of adipogenesis, chondrogenesis, osteogenesis, and myogenesis as well as the fully differentiated cells of each lineage.