When bone marrow cells are put into culture under specific conditions, a stromal layer of adherent cells developes. The stromal layer is composed of many cell types including fibroblasts, mesenchymal stem cells, adipocytes, endothelial cells, and macrophages. These stromal cells function as a feeder layer for hematopetic progenitors and stem cells allowing proliferation and differentiation of progenitors and stem cells to continue for weeks in these cultures with no addition of exogenous cytokines. This long term culture system allows researchers to study an in vitro model of the bone marrow microenvironment, including cell-cell interactions, adhesion molecules and cytokine secretion. These and many other factors allow for the tight regulation of blood cell production, progenitor cell commitment and differentiation, stem cell renewal, and LTC-IC assays.
Available as non-irradiated only.
HIV-1, hepatitis B and hepatitis C are not detected for all donors and/or cell lots. A Certificate of Analysis is provided for each cell lot purchased.