Comparison of data from the current study with data from four previous studies that examined the phenotypes of human and rabbit MSCs.

The studies of Pittenger et al. and Lapi et al. did not specify how MSCs were defined as positive or negative for a given marker. Only Dominici's study strictly defined the positive or negative reactivity of MSCs for a given marker according to the percentage of marker-labeled cells§; however, only a small number of markers was studied. The study by Martínez-Lorenzo et al. reported the percentage of MSCs that were labeled with a marker; however, many of their results did not fulfill Dominici's criteria§. §Dominici's criteria: a cell sample is positive for a given marker if more than 95% of cells express the marker, whereas it is negative if less than 2% of cells express the marker [1]. *: ≥95% of cells labeled by the marker (+), ≤2% of cells labeled by the marker (-). Comparison of data from the current study with data from four previous studies that examined the phenotypes of human and rabbit MSCs.