Isolation, differentiation, and characterisation of skeletal stem cells from human bone marrow in vitro and in vivo.

In this chapter, we describe techniques for the isolation and characterization of skeletal stem cells from human bone marrow. The methods for enrichment of STRO-1 positive cells using magnetic activated cell sorting are described and we also cover techniques for establishing and characterising osteogenic, adipogenic, and chondrogenic cultures from these cells. Finally, we present methods for studying the ability of these cells to produce bone in vivo using diffusion chambers which have been implanted subcutaneously in mice.