Table 1.

Comparison between BMSCs, ADSCs, UC-MSCs and UCB-MSCs for stem cell therapy.

Characteristic	BMSCs	ADSCs	UC-MSCs UCB-MSCs
Ethical conundrum	No	No	No
Tissue collection	Invasive	Invasive	None invasive (unwanted tissue after delivery)
Tissue processing and cell culture	Easy	Easy	Easy
Effect of donor age on cells	Quantity and quality decline with age	Quantity and quality decline with age	Unaffected
Cell proliferative potential	Lower	Lower	Higher
Expression of embryonic markers	Lower	Lower	Higher
Anti-inflammatory property	Good	Good	Good
Allogeneic cell rejection	No	No	No
Risk of tumor formation	Very low	Very low	Very low

BMSCs, Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells; ADSCs, adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stromal cells; UC-MSCs, umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stromal cells; UCB-MSCs, Umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stromal cells.