The Osteogenic Compartment of Bone Marrow: Cell Biology and Clinical Application

The marrow stromal cells of the bone cavities are of mesenchymal origin. These cells are maintaining bone remodeling and control the differentiation of hemopoietic cells during the life span. The function of the marrow stroma is based on cells that differentiate into various subtypes that are derived from a common stem cell. Plating the bone marrow at low density, they form colonies with a fibroblast-like appearance (CFU-F). The fibroblastic colonies may differentiate to distinct cell types as fibroblasts, endothelial, osteogenic and adipocytes. Understanding of the control mechanism of these cells' differentiation is very important. We used an in vitro system from established primary cultures and continuos cell lines, MBA cells from mouse bone marrow. The MBA cells were used to study the stromal cells subtypes. Herein, we summarized the knowledge on the osteogenic cells' differentiation using the marrow-derived stromal osteogenic cells, MBA-15 and clonal lines. The characterization of cells was based on morphology, rate of cell growth, gene expression and biochemical profile. A deeper understanding of the osteogenic cells differentiation will lead to better use of the marrow stroma cells in clinical application and tissue engineering to ensure healing of bone defects or skeletal genetic diseases.