Fig. 1

Differentiation and immunomodulation potential of BM-MSC. Selected examples of characterization assays performed on BM-MSC at Barcelona’s and Helsinki’s facilities. a Differentiation potential was confirmed by von Kossa staining after 4-week culture in osteogenic medium (black depositions), Oil Red O/Sudan III staining after 3-week culture in adipogenic medium (lipid droplets in the cytoplasm of adipocytes stained red), and Safranin O staining after 3-week culture in chondrogenic medium (glycosaminoglycans stained red). b Immunomodulatory properties of MSC were tested by means of the lymphocyte proliferation assay, in which MSC demonstrated their capacity to suppress proliferation of polyclonally stimulated lymphocytes. Barcelona scale bars = 200 μm. Helsinki von Kossa scale bars = 500 μm and Oil Red O scale bars = 100 μm