Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Clinical and Chemical Pathology

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are an excellent candidate for cell therapy because their isolation is straightforward, they can be bio - preserved with minimal loss of potency, they are able to self-renew, and no immunogenic reactions are observed with their transplants. The ease of culture expansion of MSCs represents one of their primary advantages and is a necessary component for most proposed clinical strategies using MSCs. However, MSCs have a finite life span, undergo senescence on long - term culture in vitro, and may lose some of their differentiation potentials with increased time in culture. Therefore, the effects of in vitro serial propagation on MSCs should be investigated. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of long term in vitro culture on morphology, proliferation, telomere length, pluripotency genes expression, and differentiation potentials of umbilical cord blood (UCB)-derived MSCs to allow for choosing the most ideal stage of culture for a specific application

Issued also as CD