. 2014 Sep 26;16:432. doi: 10.1186/s13075-014-0432-1

Table 4.

Clinically relevant sources of mesenchymal stem cells for cartilage engineering

MSC source	*In vivo* assessment of focal AC defect treatment	Advantages	Disadvantages
Bone marrow	Clinical and pre-clinical [7,38,45,47,48,51,53,59,60,65,66,68,69,71–73,76–78,80–85,88–91,97]	Most rigorous investigation and strongest supporting evidence	Propensity to form osseous tissue (could be beneficial for osseous regeneration in osteochondral lesions)
		Ease of collection by needle
		Long-term safety reported
Peripheral blood	Clinical and pre-clinical [29,61,98]	Ease of collection by needle	Paucity of literature comparing this source to others
Synovial tissue	Pre-clinical [50,52–54,56,62,64,67,70]	Greatest chondrogenic capacity noted based on in vitro study	Clinical assessment is lacking
Periosteum	Pre-clinical [7,56]	Equivalent chondrogenic capacity to bone marrow	Propensity to form osseous tissue
Periosteum	Pre-clinical [7,56]	Equivalent chondrogenic capacity to bone marrow	Clinical assessment is lacking
Adipose tissue	Pre-clinical [46,49,56]	Abundance of tissue	Reduced chondrogenic capacity
Adipose tissue	Pre-clinical [46,49,56]	Widespread anatomic availability	Clinical assessment is lacking

AC, articular cartilage; MSC, mesenchymal stem cell.