Etoposide and hypoxia do not activate apoptosis of multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells in vitro.

Incubation of multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells from human adipose tissue with etoposide for 24, 48, and 72 h under standard conditions (20% O(2)), at "physiological" oxygen content (5% O(2)), and under hypoxic conditions (1% O(2)) did not induce cell apoptosis and only slightly increased the number of necrotic cells. The absence of growth factors in the culture medium did not potentiate the damaging effect of etoposide on multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells under standard and hypoxic conditions. We concluded that etoposide produced no pro-apoptotic effect on multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells from the human adipose tissue.