Table 2.

Comparison of MSC Sources

MSC Source	Potential Benefits	Potential Drawbacks
WJ	High proliferative capacity [4] Tri-lineage differentiation ability [4, 6] Provokes little immune response when transplanted [3, 4, 9]	Currently no uniform isolation procedure [4, 7] difficult to extract from other anatomical zones of the hUC [4]
Bone Marrow	Useful for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation [9] Ability to differentiate into multiple cell types in the mesodermal lineage [9]	Difficult and invasive procedures needed for isolation [9] Provokes a greater immune response than WJ-MSCs [9, 13]
UC Blood	Exhibit properties similar to WJ-MSCs, especially in broad differentiation abilities [4]	Difficult to extract and isolate cells in high enough amounts for transplantation [4]
Amniotic Fluid	High differentiation capacity Easy to obtain from the placenta [11]	Very little research on functional effects conducted to date [11] More research needed on their potential uses and potential methods for isolation [11]
UC Matrix	High differentiation capacity [4] Immunomodulatory properties similar to WJ-MSCs [3, 4, 9]	Difficult to extract and isolate cells in high enough amounts for transplantation [4]