Human mesenchymal stem cells possess different biological characteristics but do not change their therapeutic potential when cultured in serum free medium

INTRODUCTION: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are widely investigated in clinical researches to treat various diseases. Classic culture medium for MSCs, even for clinical use, contains fetal bovine serum. The serum-containing medium (SCM) seems a major obstacle for MSCs-related therapies due to the risk of contamination of infectious pathogens. Some studies showed that MSCs could be expanded in serum free medium (SFM); however, whether SFM would change the biological characteristics and safety issues of MSCs has not been well answered. METHODS: Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) were cultured in a chemical defined serum free medium. Growth, multipotency, surface antigen expression, telomerase, immunosuppressive ability, gene expression profile and genomic stability of hUC-MSCs cultured in SFM and SCM were analyzed and compared side by side. RESULTS: hUC-MSCs propagated more slowly and senesce ultimately in SFM. SFM-expanded hUC-MSCs were different from SCM-expanded hUC-MSCs in growth rate, telomerase, gene expression profile. However, SFM-expanded hUC-MSCs maintained multipotency and the profile of surface antigen which were used to define human MSCs. Both SFM- and SCM-expanded hUC-MSCs gained copy number variation (CNV) in long-term in vitro culture. CONCLUSION: hUC-MCSs could be expanded in SFM safely to obtain enough cells for clinical application, meeting the basic criteria for human mesenchymal stem cells. hUC-MSCs cultured in SFM were distinct from hUC-MSCs cultured in SCM, yet they remained therapeutic potentials for future regenerative medicine. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/scrt522) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.