How to use this glossary
Regenerative medicine has a vocabulary problem. Some terms are technical and precise; others are marketing labels that borrow scientific-sounding phrasing without carrying scientific meaning. This glossary defines the terms honestly, with attention to where regulatory or scientific distinctions matter.
If a clinic uses a term from this list in your consultation, you should be able to ask a follow-up question that shows you understand what they said. If a clinic uses a term not on this list, and it sounds impressively technical, ask them to define it. Field vocabulary is finite; jargon proliferates when it's obscuring rather than clarifying.
The reference table
| Term | What it actually means |
|---|---|
| Allogeneic | Cells from a donor other than the patient — commonly umbilical cord tissue, Wharton's jelly, or third-party bone marrow. Regulatory pathways differ from autologous. |
| Autologous | Cells from the patient's own body — usually bone marrow aspirate or adipose tissue. Fewer immune-compatibility concerns. |
| Bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC) | Bone marrow collected via needle and centrifuged to concentrate the stromal cell fraction. Minimally manipulated in most jurisdictions. |
| cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practice) | Regulatory standards governing pharmaceutical and cell-therapy manufacturing. Includes environmental controls, documentation, and quality testing. cGMP-compliant labs are the baseline for legitimate expanded cell products. |
| Culture expansion | Growing a small starting sample of cells in laboratory conditions to produce a larger dose. Legal in Colombia at authorized centers; heavily restricted in the U.S. for most indications. |
| Differentiation | The process by which a less-specialized cell becomes a more-specialized cell type. MSCs can differentiate into bone, cartilage, and fat lineages in vitro. |
| Exosomes | Small membrane-bound vesicles secreted by cells, containing proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. Part of the paracrine 'secretome.' Not FDA-approved for therapeutic use in the U.S. |
| HCT/P (Human Cells, Tissues, and cellular and tissue-based Products) | FDA regulatory category for cell and tissue products. Minimally manipulated autologous use falls under HCT/P rules; expanded cells generally require IND clinical trial pathways. |
| IND (Investigational New Drug) | FDA application required to conduct clinical trials of unapproved therapies. Culture-expanded cell products for most indications require IND in the U.S. |
| INVIMA | Colombia's national regulatory authority for drugs, food, medical devices, and cell/tissue products. Oversees the cell-therapy center authorization framework in Colombia. |
| Intra-articular | Injected into a joint space — as distinct from intramuscular, intravenous, or intradermal routes. |
| KL grade (Kellgren-Lawrence) | Radiographic grading system for osteoarthritis severity, 0 (none) through 4 (severe joint space loss, bone-on-bone). Predicts response to regenerative therapy — earlier grades respond better. |
| Mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) | The most commonly used cell type in regenerative therapy. Can be sourced from bone marrow, adipose tissue, umbilical cord, or dental pulp. Effects are largely paracrine, not through cell differentiation. |
| Minimally manipulated | Regulatory term for cell products that undergo only basic processing (centrifugation, filtration) without culture expansion. Different pathway than expanded products. |
| Passage number | How many times a cell culture has been split and expanded. Higher passage numbers may show reduced potency; serious labs report passage number as a quality parameter. |
| PRP (Platelet-rich plasma) | Autologous plasma concentrated by centrifugation to increase platelet and growth factor content. Not stem cell therapy; often used alongside or before cell therapy. |
| Secretome | The full set of molecules secreted by a cell — including cytokines, growth factors, exosomes, and microRNAs. Increasingly considered the therapeutic mechanism of MSC therapy. |
| Stromal vascular fraction (SVF) | The cell-containing pellet obtained from processed adipose tissue. Contains MSCs plus other cell types. Minimally manipulated in most jurisdictions. |
| Umbilical cord blood vs cord tissue | Different products. Cord blood is stored for hematopoietic stem cells (used in leukemia treatment). Cord tissue (Wharton's jelly) is a source of mesenchymal stromal cells for regenerative use. |
| Viability | Percentage of cells in a product that are alive at time of administration. Should be documented on the certificate of analysis for expanded cell products. |
| Wharton's jelly | The gelatinous connective tissue inside the umbilical cord. A source of allogeneic mesenchymal stromal cells commonly used in regenerative treatments in Colombia. |
Terms that should raise your antennae
These get used often in marketing without clear technical meaning:
- "Young cells" / "youthful cells" — Age of donor cells is a marketing hook, not a validated efficacy parameter. Wharton's jelly cells are from neonatal tissue, but that alone does not establish superiority.
- "Potent" / "high-potency" — Without a defined potency assay measuring a specific functional attribute, this is a marketing adjective.
- "Millions of cells" / "billions of exosomes" — Numbers without context. Ask what the total dose is, how it compares to published protocols for your condition, and how viability was measured.
- "Proprietary protocol" — Sometimes real (patented processing methods exist), sometimes a rhetorical shield against transparency. Ask for specifics.
- "Regenerative infusion" — Generic marketing phrase that could mean cells, secretome, exosomes, PRP, or a vitamin cocktail. Get the composition in writing.
Terms worth knowing that aren't cell-specific
- Certificate of analysis (COA) — Document from the manufacturing lab reporting cell count, viability, sterility, and identity testing for a specific product lot. Serious clinics can produce this for your treatment.
- Chain of custody — Documented tracking of a cell product from source through processing to administration. Matters for quality and traceability.
- Informed consent — Not just a signature. A serious consent process discusses evidence quality, alternatives, realistic outcomes, risks, and cost — in language you understand.
What this glossary is not
This is a working reference — a starting point for reading protocols, evaluating claims, and asking sharper questions. It is not a substitute for talking with a qualified physician. Terminology recognition is one small piece of good decision-making about a therapy.
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