An Enzymatic Method to Rescue Mesenchymal Stem Cells from Clotted Bone Marrow SamplesPhilipp Schlaefli *1, Alessandro Bertolo *1, Cherry Malonzo 1, Tobias Poetzel 2, Martin Baur 3, Frank Steffen 4, Jivko Stoyanov 1
1Swiss Paraplegic Research, 2Orthopaedics and Spinal Surgery, Swiss Paraplegic Centre, 3Department of Neurosurgery, Lucerne Cantonal Hospital (LUKS), 4Section of Small Animal Surgery/Neurology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich
Mesenchymal stem cells are usually obtained from bone marrow and require expansion culture. When samples clot before processing, a protocol using the (enzymatic) thrombolytic drug urokinase can be applied to degrade the clot. Thus, cells are released and available for expansion culture. This protocol provides a rapid and inexpensive alternative to resampling.
