Objective To study the effect of hypoxia on the prol iferation of hBMSCs and human placental decidua basal is-MSCs (hPDB-MSCs), and to provide the theoretical basis for discovering the new seed cells source for tissue engineering. Methods Density gradient centrifugation method was adopted to isolate and culture hBMSCs and hPDB-MSCs,flow cytometry (FCM) was appl ied to detect cell surface marker. After establ ishing the experimental model of CoC12 chemical hypoxia, MTT method was appl ied to evaluate the prol iferation of hBMSCs and hPDB-MSCs at different time points (6, 12, 24, 48, 72, 96 hours) with various CoC12 concentration (0, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200 μmol/L). Results FCM analysis revealed that hPDB-MSCs and hBMSCs expressed CD9, CD29, CD44, CD105, CD106 and human leucocyte antigen ABC (HLA-ABC), but both were absent for CD34, CD40L and HLA-DR. Compared with hBMSCs, hPDB-MSCs expressed stage-specific embryonic antigen 1 (SSEA-1), SSEA-3, SSEA-4, TRA-1-60 and TRA-1-81 better. The prol iferations of hPDB-MSCs and hBMSCs were inhibited within the first 12 hours under hypoxia condition, but promoted after 12 hours of hypoxia. Compared with the control group, the hBMSCs were remarkably prol iferated 24 hours after hypoxia with CoC12 concentration of 150 µmol/L (P lt; 0.05), while hPDB-MSCs were significantly prol iferated 12 hours after hypoxia with CoC12 concentration of 75 µmol/L (P lt; 0.05). Conclusion Compared with hBMSCs, hPDB-MSCs express more specific surface antigens of embryonic stem cells and are more sensitive to the prol iferation effects of chemical hypoxia, indicating it may be a new seed cells source for tissue engineering.