Collagen as an immobilization vehicle for bone marrow stromal cells enriched with osteogenic potential

The bone marrow contains mesenchymal cells that can be divided into two categories: cells of hemopoietic lineage and stromal cells. The stromal cells are adhesive to the surface of culture dish, and could be differentiated into cells with bone-forming capability when stimulated with osteogenic supplements. In this study, we have employed collagen to immobilize cells with osteogenic potential from bone marrow. A more than two-fold increase in cell density was obtained on the collagen-coated substratum as compared to the uncoated ones. The selected marrow cells exhibited elevated alkaline phosphatase activity in parallel with the proliferation of the cells attached to the collagen surface. The osteoblastic expression of the selected cells was further confirmed by the histological stains of alkaline phosphatase and mineral deposit. This method provides a simple and fast screening technique to isolate osteoprogenitor-enriched population from the bone marrow stromal cells. It has a great potential for future biological and clinical applications.