ABSTRACT
At the present time, the importance of stem cells, especially mesenchymal stem cells, is of utmost importance for scientists. Mesenchymal stem cells are adult stem cells which can divide into a variety of different cells. Regarding this, it is of importance in preclinical studies. The aim of this study was the isolating of mesenchymal stem cells derived from chicken bone marrow and assessing their ability for differentiation. These cells can be used in the studies related to tissue engineering and gene therapy. This was an experimental study which was conducted at Pasteur institute of Iran in 2008-2009. In this study, 15-day old Raf chickens were used. For cultivating the mesenchymal stem cells, bone marrows of the legs and tibia were extracted with flashing technique. After the cell cultivation and proliferation, a part of the cells was frozen in liquid nitrogen. In order to make sure that these cells were mesenchymal stem cells. The cells were differentiated into three lines of bone, cartilage and adipose. Specific staining was done for histological analysis. Chicken bone marrow is a potential source of adult stem cells. Stem cells derived from bone marrow could differentiate to Osteocyte, Chondrocyte and Adipocyte cells. For the first time, results of this research indicated that stem cells derived from chicken's bone marrow are an important source of stem cells. They have the potential for differentiation; are cost effective, have a simple isolating method and are free of bioethical problems