Bm hmscs

For the encapsulated metabolic activity experiment, bone marrow-derived hMSCs (bm-hMSCs) (ATCC, Manassas, VA) were seeded in T-225 flasks according to the manufacturer’s recommendation. Cells were expanded in an hMSC growth medium formula consisting of α-MEM, 20% FBS, and 1% antibiotic-antimycotic. Cells were passaged at ~80–90% confluency and harvested for experiments by passage five. For all other cell culture experiments, bm-hMSCs were expanded using RoosterBio high-volume cell culture kits and cells. Cells were either cultured in T-225 flasks or CS-2 CellStack chambers according to the recommended seeding density and final desired cell count. The manufacturer’s cell-specific media with growth factor supplementation was used, with media changed every 3 days. Cells were passaged and harvested at 80–90% confluency and by passage five for viability experiments or by passage number three for differentiation experiments. An incubator set to 95% humidity at 37 °C and 5% CO₂ was utilized for all cell culturing and expansion. PBS was used to wash away dead cells and TrypLE was used to detach cells. To form a pellet for resuspension, cells were centrifuged at 200*g for 5 min. To count cell populations, a standard visual hemocytometer was used.