[Effectivity of the novel serum-free medium STK2 for proliferating human mesenchymal stem cells]

To apply human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) to regenerative medicines, it is necessary to multiply hMSC in vitro in a short period. In addition, it is desirable that the medium which is used for the hMSC multiplication is not supplemented with the serum, because the addition of the serum has risks of infection. In this study, we cultured hMSC with three kinds of medium used for multiplying hMSC (DMEM, MSCGM, STK2) and compared hMSC proliferation in each medium. As a result, it was confirmed that hMSC proliferation was significantly higher in STK2 medium which is a novel serum-free medium developed for hMSC multiplication. Moreover, we compared the hMSC proliferation in these media under the environment that assumed bone reproduction. When we cultured hMSC in each medium with hydroxyapatite (HAp), the proliferative inhibition by HAp depended on the additive amount, and the degree of the proliferative inhibition was different among the media but the lowest inhibitory effect was observed in STK2 medium.