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The adult mesenchymal stem cells are responsible for the differentiation into and regeneration of cells of bone, adipose, muscle and cartilage tissue.
Although traditionally isolated from bone marrow, MSCs have been isolated from a variety of tissues including cord blood, peripheral blood, fetal liver and lung, adipose tissue, skeletal muscle, amniotic fluid, synovium and the circulatory system. Beside their plasticity for tissue repair, MSCs also exhibit a powerful immunosuppressive activity and play important roles in supporting hematopoiesis.
Mesenchymal stem cells are characterized morphologically by a small cell body with a few cell processes that are long and thin. MSCs are identified by the expression of many molecules including CD105 (SH2) and CD73 (SH3/4) and are negative for the hematopoietic markers CD34, CD45, and CD14.
The properties of MSCs, together with established techniques for isolation and culturing, make these cells potentially ideal candidates for tissue engineering. It has been shown that MSCs are able to migrate to sites of injury, suggesting that MSCs possess migratory capacity. Studies have implicated the importance of various chemokine receptors and adhesion molecules with regards to tissue-specific homing of MSCs. Harnessing the migratory potential of MSCs by modulating their chemokine-chemokine receptor interactions may be a powerful way to increase their ability to correct inherited disorders of mesenchymal tissues or facilitate tissue repair in vivo.
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