Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (University Hospital of Liege)

A total volume of 30-40 ml bone marrow was collected from the iliac crest. Mononucleated cells were recovered from the bone marrow sample using Ficoll gradient centrifugation. The cells were washed with PBS and seeded into culture flasks with serum-free medium, autologous plasma (5%) and fibroblast growth factor (2 ng/ml), at a density of 10 million cells/175 cm². At day 14, cells were recovered using versene-EDTA and passaged for further culture in the same medium, at a density of 1 million cells/175 cm². One week later, the cells were harvested.