Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Dataset Papers in Biology
Volume 2013, Article ID 370103, 4 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.7167/2013/370103
Dataset Paper
Heterogeneity of Umbilical Cords as a Source for
Mesenchymal Stem Cells
O. O. Maslova,
1, 2
N. S. Shuvalova,
1, 3
O. M. Sukhorada,
3
S. M. Zhukova,
4
O. G. Deryabina,
1, 3
M. V. Makarenko,
4
D. O. Govseiev,
4
and V. A. Kordium
3
1
Department of Gene Technologies, State Institute of Genetic and Regenerative Medicine, National Academy of
Medical Sciences of Ukraine, 67 Vyshgorodska Street, Kyiv 04050, Ukraine
2
�ducational and Scienti�c Centre �Institute of Biology�, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, 64 Volodymyrska Street,
Kyiv 01601, Ukraine
3
Department of Cell Regulatory Mechanisms, Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, National Academy of Science of Ukraine,
150 Zabolotnogo Street, Kyiv 03143, Ukraine
4
Municipal Maternity Hospital No. 5, 2 Chervonozoryanyi Avenue, Kyiv 03037, Ukraine
Correspondence should be addressed to O. O. Maslova; rotiferko@gmail.com
Received 6 April 2012; Accepted 29 April 2012
Academic Editors: H. Boulaiz, C. Marcinkiewicz, J. Pacherník, and V. Trajkovic
Copyright © 2013 O. O. Maslova et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
e object of the paper is to show the heterogeneity of 300 cord samples processed in the current research. e differences in
effectiveness of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) isolation are shown. Moreover, the recommendations for choosing the method of
MSC isolation depending on the value of stromal-vascular rate are given. e data can be useful for selecting the optimal conditions
to obtain MSC and for further cryopreservation of umbilical cord tissue.
1. Introduction
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from umbilical cord matrix
are extremely promising for use in regenerative medicine.
Accessibility and safety of material selection, absence of ethi-
cal con�icts, simplicity of cells isolation, relative homogeneity
of the material, and presence of the speci�c populations of
MSCs are the main advantages of umbilical cord matrix as the
source of MSCs. Early ontogenetic population of cells can be
isolated from properly processed umbilical cord matrix [1–4].
According to a generous amount of modern papers,
obtaining MSCs from umbilical cord matrix is considered
to be a methodologically easy task [3–6]. Many variations
of enzymatic way of umbilical cords’ processing with colla-
genases of different types, hyaluronidase, trypsin, and other
enzymes are proposed by different authors. Moreover the effi-
ciency of mechanical way of processing and various combi-
nations of these approaches are shown [3–9]. e possibility
of obtaining the big number of cells from each specimen
regardless of any cord characteristic is demonstrated.
However, the cord may have individual peculiarities in
a case of each organism. MSCs as the part of cord stroma
can be more or less available for obtaining depending on
organometric characteristics of the cord. Presumably the
health of mother and child and the external factors’ in�uence
may have an impact on efficacy of MSC isolation. But that
statement needs to be proven. Most of the researches that
substantiate the efficiency of different methods of MSC
acquiring and claim extremely high amount of obtained cells
were made with a low number of samples and thus may not
fully re�ect the cords’ heterogeneity.
Aer processing 300 samples within 3 years, we have
demonstrated that under similar conditions the possibility
of cells’ obtaining from different cords is not the same as
well as the viability of the resulting cultures. In addition,
we have demonstrated that the method for obtaining cells
should also be chosen individually based on the organometric
characteristics of the cord. We propose to use the stromal-
vascular rate (SVR) that can be easily calculated using
simple formulas [10]. Enzymatic, mechanical, or both of