Easy and Rapid Methods for Human Umbilical Cord Blood–Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Human Umbilical Wharton’s Jelly–Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells

These protocols describe modified methods that use Ficoll-Paque density gradient for umbilical cord blood–derived mesenchymal stem cells and explant method for Wharton’s jelly–derived mesenchymal stem cells. The Ficoll-Paque density gradient method allows to obtain mesenchymal stem cells while eliminating monocytic cells. In this method, precoating the cell culture flasks with fetal bovine serum helps remove the monocytic cells and instruct more pure mesenchymal stem cells. On the other hand, the explant method for Wharton’s jelly–derived mesenchymal stem cell is user-friendly and cost-effective than enzymatic methods. In this chapter, we provide a collection of protocols to obtain mesenchymal stem cells from human umbilical cord blood and Wharton’s jelly.