Umbilical cord versus bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells.

incetheplacentaisapostnatal tissue and discarded asmedical waste, harvesting stem cells from this organrepresents a noninvasive and ethically conductive proce-dure. Perinatal stem cells isolated from amnion, chorion,umbilical cord, and cord blood are increasingly viewedas reliable sources of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs)alternative to bone marrow-derived ones (BM-MSCs),which are currently the most commonly used in clinicalapplications [1–5].Perinatal stem cells are a bridge between embryonic stemcells (ESCs) and adult stem cells (such as BM-MSCs). Theyshare many characteristics of both cells [1,6]. Considering thestructural complexity of the term ‘‘placenta,’’ we have fo-cused our attent…