Mesenchymal stromal cells are one of the main sources for cell therapy and tissue engineering. They are capable of self-renewal and differentiation. They can regulate a body's immune response and participate in its wound-healing process. Their regenerative abilities reduce as they age. MSC therapies therefore raise a question of how the age of the donor affects the outcome of the treatment. In this master's thesis, we tried to determine how the age of BALB/c mice affects the properties of their MSC. We monitored the expression of cell markers during cell culture with flow cytometry. We monitored cell proliferation rate with the MTT assay and analyzed mouse MSC's migration capacities with wound-healing assay. By measuring the β-galactosidase activity we determined the presence of senescent cells in culture. We discovered that young cells divide more rapidly, have a lower proportion of senescent cells in culture and have lower migration capacity when compared to older cells. The expression of cell markers is the same for both cell groups.
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