Human mulipotential mesenchymal/stromal stem cells are derived from a discrete subpopulation of STRO-1bright/CD34-/CD45-/glycophorin-A- bone marrow cells

Magnetic and flow cytometry-based methods were used to characterize clonogenic stromal cells in human bone marrow. STRO-1(bright) stromal cells were found to lack expression of CD34, CD45 and glycophorin-A markers associated with hematopoietic progenitor cells. These studies support the view that these are two distinct stem cell compartments in adult bone marrow.