Mechanisms Underlying the Osteo- and Adipo-Differentiation of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Figure 1

Multipotent Differentiation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells from Different Sources. MSCs can be obtained from skeleton muscle, bone marrow, tendon, adipose tissue, placenta, umbilical cord, and umbilical cord blood. MSCs have the potential to generate mesodermal lineages such as adipocytes, osteoblasts, and chondrocytes; on the other hand, they can also trans-differentiate into some cells lineages from other germ layers such as adipocytes, osteocytes, chondrocytes, cardiac muscle cells smooth muscle cells, and endothelial cells form mesodermal layer, neural cells from ectodermal layer, and hepatic cells and pancreatic cells from endodermal layer.