Wharton's jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSCs) are isolated from Wharton's jelly of 39-40 week gestational age human umbilical cords. WJ-MSCs have a normal karyotype and a spindle-shaped morphology. They express mesenchymal antigens as well as stem cell markers and are negative for hematopoietic markers. UC-MSCs can be differentiated into osteogenic, adipogenic, chondrogenic and neuronal lineages.
Wharton's jelly mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSCs) were derived from Wharton's jelly of 39-40 week (gestational age) human umbilical cords (UCs), within 2-4 hours from collection time. UCs were washed, rinsed in ethanol (70%) for 30 seconds, cut, treated with collagenase for 16 hours and digested in trypsin for 30 minutes. Isolated cells were plated and cultured in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium Low Glucose (DMEM-LG) supplemented with fetal bovine serum (FBS, 10%), and penicillin/streptomycin (100 U/ml). Medium was exchanged every 3 days.