Selection of basal medium for culturing human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells in combination with human platelet lysate

Abstract Background Different basal media have very different effects on cell growth, proliferation and differentiation potential of cultured human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell (hUC-MSC). This issue has not gotten enough research. The goal of this study is to select high safety and low cost basal media for hUC-MSC, which performs best in combination with commercial human platelet lysate product for cell proliferation and differentiation functions, especially suitable for high-passage hUC-MSC cultures. Methods Three different basal media were combined with 5% UltraGROGAdvanced to culture P0 to P8 passage hUC-MSC. Cell morphology, cell expansion ratio, proliferation, differentiation and cell surface markers were examined and analyzed in order to draw conclusions. Results When observing the same passage under different culture systems, the number of cells obtained in MSCBM and α-MEM were higher than that cultured in IMDM (0.01 < P  0.05). Combining growth curve measurement and cell doubling time calculation, it was found that the cell proliferation functions of the three culture media were ranked as MSCBM, α-MEM and IMDM from high to low. The P8 cells cultured in different media all yield good clonal formation, and also all differentiated well. The number of cells differentiated into osteoblasts and chondrocytes cultured in different media was not significantly different (P > 0.05), while the number of adipocyte differentiation in MSCBM and α-MEM cultures were significantly higher than that of IMDM culture (0.01 < P < 0.05). The cells in all cultures uniformly express high levels of MSC surface markers CD73, CD90, CD105, and negatively express CD34, CD45. Conclusions Taking all indicators into consideration, we conclude that the culture system of MSMBM supplemented with 5% UltraGROGAdvanced is the best for culturing hUC-MSC withα-MEM follows right after. This study revealed the importance of basal media in MSC cultures, and offer guidance on their selective use.