Comparisons of rabbit bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell isolation and culture methods in vitro

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) have great potential in tissue engineering and clinical therapy, and various methods for isolation and cultivation of BMSCs have been reported. However, the best techniques are still uncertain. Therefore, we sought the most suitable among the four most common methods for BMSC separation from rabbits. BMSCs were obtained from untreated whole bone marrow (BM) adherent cultures, 3 volumes of red blood cells (RBC) lysed with ammonium chloride, 6 volumes of RBC lysed with ammonium chloride, and Ficoll density gradient centrifugation. Then, isolated BMSCs were evaluated with respect to primary cell yield, number of CFU-F colonies, proliferative capacity, cell phenotype, and chondrogenic differentiation potential. Our data show that BMSCs were successfully isolated by all four methods, and each method was similar with regard to cell morphology, phenotype, and differentiation potential. However, BMSCs from untreated whole BM adherent cultures had greater primary cell yields, larger colonies, and the shortest primary culture time (P<0.05). Moreover, the 4(th) generation of cultured cells had the strongest proliferative activity, the fastest growth rate and the most numerous cells compared with other cell passage generations (P<0.05). In conclusion, untreated whole BM adherent cultures are best for rabbit BMSC isolation and the 4(th) generation of cells has the strongest proliferation capacity.