RESUMO
By attention to the practical importance of the stem cells screening and culture, this study was conducted on chicken bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. This study was performed to determine the effect of screening and cultural methods on the cell morphology and differentiation. This was an experimental study carried out at Pasture institute in 2009. One milligram aspirated bone marrow from tibia of a two-week old Raf chicken was cultured in low-glucose DMEM, 10% FBS, penicillin and streptomycin using both direct [without RBC removal] and Ficol [with RBC removal] mounted culture methods. After 4 passages, the bone marrow cells of two cell culture methods were compared for their morphology and differentiation into bone, cartilage, and adipose. Data were statistically analyzed by ANOVA test. In direct cell culture, more colonization compared with Ficol mounting method, was observed and most cells showed fibroblastic morphology. Also, the results were indicative of higher yields of differentiation into bone [21%], cartilage [27%], and adipose [40%] in direct method. According to our results, the application of direct culturing system for screening and proliferation of mesenchymal stem cells seems to be a better protocol to screen the chicken bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells compared to Ficol mounting method