Effect of human bone marrow stromal cells and dermal fibroblasts on collagen synthesis and epithelization

In a previous in vitro study, the authors reported that bone marrow stromal cells (BSCs) have better wound-healing activities than fibroblasts. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of BSCs and fibroblasts on wound-healing activity in vivo. Cultured human BSCs and dermal fibroblasts taken from the same patients were tested to compare collagen synthesis and epithelization in a rat wound model. No-cell-treated animals were used as controls. The BSC group showed the highest collagen level, followed by the fibroblast group, and then the no-cell group (P < 0.05). In addition, the best epithelization was observed in the BSC group. These results demonstrate that BSCs better stimulate wound healing than fibroblasts in vivo and in vitro.