 Osteoarthritis OA is one of the most frequent musculoskeletal disorders and represents the main indication for total joint arthroplasty. Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells MSCs can be easily isolated and culture expanded from bone marrow aspirates and provide an excellent source of progenitor cells for cell-based regeneration strategies due to their ex vivo differentiation and proliferation capacity. Although there are hints that MSCs derived from OA patients may exhibit altered function the role of MSCs with respect to disease development and progression of OA is not clearly understood to date. To assess whether advanced-stage OA affects MSCs suitability for musculoskeletal regenerative therapy, in the present study, we compare proliferation and differentiation potential of MSCs from osteoarthritic versus healthy donors. 