Mesenchymal stem cells as a therapeutic tool in tissue and organ regeneration

Tissue engineering is an interdisciplinary field that offers new opportunities for regeneration of diseased and damaged tissue with the use of many different cell types, including adult stem cells. In tissue engineering and regenerative medicine the most popular are mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) isolated from bone marrow. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells are a potential source of progenitor cells for osteoblasts, chondroblasts, adipocytes, skeletal muscles and cardiomyocytes. It has also been shown that these cells can differentiate into ecto- and endodermal cells, e.g. neuronal cells, glial cells, keratinocytes and hepatocytes. The availability of autologous MSCs, their proliferative potential and multilineage differentiation capacity make them an excellent tool for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The aim of this publication is to present characteristic and biological properties of mesenchymal stem cells isolated from bone marrow.