Use of umbilical cord and cord blood-derived stem cells for tissue repair and regeneration.
BACKGROUND
Potential use of umbilical cord (UC) is one of the most exciting frontiers in medicine for repairing damaged tissues. UC and cord blood-derived stem cells are the world's largest potential sources of stem cells. UC contains a mixture of stem and progenitor cells at different lineage commitment stages and UC has been verified as a candidate for cell-based therapies and tissue engineering applications due to the capability of these cells for extensive self-renewal and multi-lineage character in differentiation potential.


METHODS
UC-based repair or regeneration of organs (i.e., heart, nerve, skin, etc.) is a high-priority research worldwide.


CONCLUSIONS
The aim of this review is to summarize the knowledge about UC with main focus on its applications for tissue repair and regeneration.
Islamic Azad University, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tonekabon Branch , Tonekabon , Iran +00981924271105 ; kia_esm@yahoo.com.
Esmaeil
E
Biazar
D053687:Adult Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology / Q000637:transplantation; D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D036101:Cord Blood Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000502:physiology / Q000637:transplantation; D006801:Humans; D012038:Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D014470:Umbilical Cord / Q000502:physiology / Q000637:transplantation; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology*