Due to their immunosuppressive potential and ability to differentiate into multiple musculoskeletal cell lineages, mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) became popular in clinical trials for the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. The aim of this study was to isolate and characterize native populations of MSCs from human cortical and cancellous bone from the posterior elements of the lumbar spine and determine what source of MSCs yields better quality and quantity of cells to be potentially used for spinal fusion repair. We were able to show that MSCs from trabecular and cortical spine had the typical MSC morphology and expression markers; the ability to differentiate in adipocyte, chondrocyte, or osteoblast but they did not have a consistent pattern in the expression of the specific differentiation lineage genes. Moreover, MSCs from both sites demonstrated an immune suppression profile suggesting that these cells may have a more promising success in applications related to immunomodulation more than exploring their ability to drive osteogenesis to prevent nonunion in spine fusion procedures.
Keywords: human lumbar spine samples; immunosuppressive potential; mesenchymal stromal cells; multilineage differentiation ability; spine fusion.