As a widely used cell culture supplement, fetal bovine serum (FBS) harbor high content of growth, proliferation, and adhesion factors. However, high cost, bio-safety, possible xenogeneic agent transmission, finite accessible, and ethical controversy are major obstacles that discourage the use of this additive. Accordingly, novel alternatives have been proposed with various pros and cons. Still, caution should be taken in choosing suitable substitute given that the alteration in the main aspects of cultured cells can be biased the consequences of clinical applications. Herein, the authors evaluated the impact of cord blood serum harvesting by hydroxyethyl starch (CBS-HES), as an enriched source of growth factors, on the basic mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) characteristics. In the present experiment, umbilical cord-derived MSCs were isolated and continuously nourished with Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium containing either 10, 15, and 20% CBS-HES or FBSs to compare their morphology, immunophenotype, growth and proliferation rate, death rate, cell cycle, and gene expression profiles. Although all enriched media supported the expansion of MSCs with comparable morphology, cell surface markers, death rate, c-MYC and p16 expression, and growth rate, CBS-HES treated cells significantly (P < 0.05) expressed more hTERT gene in a concentration-dependent manner. Yet no significant shift was observed in the cell cycle of cultured cells using the same concentrations of additives, a finding which further confirmed by Ki-67 immunostaining. CBS-HES as an available and affordable additive, seems to be an optimal, relatively safe, and promising FBS alternative for cultivation, propagation, and subsequent clinical applications of MSCs.

作为一种广泛使用的细胞培养补充剂，胎牛血清 (FBS) 含有高含量的生长、增殖和粘附因子。然而，高成本、生物安全性、可能的异种病原体传播、有限的可及性和伦理争议是阻碍使用这种添加剂的主要障碍。因此，已经提出了具有各种优点和缺点的新颖替代方案。尽管如此，在选择合适的替代品时仍应谨慎，因为培养细胞的主要方面的改变可能会影响临床应用的结果。在此，作者评估了通过羟乙基淀粉 (CBS-HES) 作为丰富的生长因子来源采集脐带血清对基本间充质干细胞 (MSC) 特征的影响。在本实验中，分离脐带来源的 MSC 并用含有 10%、15% 和 20% CBS-HES 或 FBS 的 Dulbecco 改良 Eagle 培养基持续滋养，以比较它们的形态、免疫表型、生长和增殖率、死亡率、细胞周期和基因表达个人资料。尽管所有富集培养基都支持具有可比形态、细胞表面标志物、死亡率、c-MYC 和 p16 表达以及生长速率的 MSC 的扩增，但 CBS-HES 处理的细胞显着（P < 0.05）在一个浓度下表达更多的 hTERT 基因 -依赖方式。然而，使用相同浓度的添加剂在培养细胞的细胞周期中没有观察到显着变化，Ki-67 免疫染色进一步证实了这一发现。CBS-HES 作为一种可用且负担得起的添加剂，似乎是一种最佳的、相对安全的、