title: Mesengenic differentiation: comparison of human and rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Cellular therapies using Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) represent a promising approach for the treatment of degenerative diseases, in particular for mesengenic tissue regeneration. However, before the approval of clinical trials in humans, in vitro studies must be performed aimed at investigating MSCs' biology and the mechanisms regulating their proliferation and differentiation abilities. Besides studies on human MSCs (hMSCs), MSCs derived from rodents have been the most used cellular type for in vitro studies. Nevertheless, the transfer of the results obtained using animal MSCs to hMSCs has been hindered by the limited knowledge regarding the similarities existing between cells of different origins. Aim of this paper is to highlight similarities and differences and to clarify the sometimes reported different results obtained using these cells.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We compare the differentiation ability into mesengenic lineages of rat and human MSCs cultured in their standard conditions. Our results describe in which way the source from which MSCs are derived affects their differentiation potential, depending on the mesengenic lineage considered. For osteogenic and chondrogenic lineages, the main difference between human and rat MSCs is represented by differentiation time, while for adipogenesis hMSCs have a greater differentiation potential.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results on the one hand suggest to carefully evaluate the transfer of results obtained with animal MSCs, on the other hand they offer a clue to better apply MSCs into clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chirurgia e Medicina Traslazionale, Università Milano-Bicocca, via Cadore ; NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neurosciences, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Arianna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scuteri
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chirurgia e Medicina Traslazionale, Università Milano-Bicocca, via Cadore ; NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neurosciences, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Donzelli
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chirurgia e Medicina Traslazionale, Università Milano-Bicocca, via Cadore.
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Foudah
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chirurgia e Medicina Traslazionale, Università Milano-Bicocca, via Cadore.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Caldara
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chirurgia e Medicina Traslazionale, Università Milano-Bicocca, via Cadore.
authors.forename: Juliana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Redondo
authors.affiliation: Centro Ricerca Tettamanti, Clinica Pediatrica, Università Milano-Bicocca, Monza.
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: D'Amico
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chirurgia e Medicina Traslazionale, Università Milano-Bicocca, via Cadore ; NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neurosciences, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tredici
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chirurgia e Medicina Traslazionale, Università Milano-Bicocca, via Cadore ; NeuroMi, Milan Center for Neurosciences, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Mariarosaria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miloso
keywords: Adipogenic Differentiation; Chondrogenic Differentiation; Human; Mesenchymal Stem Cells; Osteogenic Differentiation; Rat