ABSTRACT
The adult healthy bone marrow is the source of hematopoietic and non-hematopoietic cells. The latter includes cells such as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and endothelial progenitors. Hematopoietic cells include stem cells (HSCs) and progenitors of various lineages. Studies of bone marrow cells can provide information about various diseases. Thus, it might be required to isolate several primary cells, immediately after harvesting from the bone marrow or by expansion in culture. In order to do this, it is required to first obtain bone marrow aspirate from human donors. This protocol describes a stepwise procedure to collect aspirates from human donors. This collection is required to complete the methods in other chapters, including culture of human MSCs and isolation of HSCs.
