Growth stimulatory effects of amniotic fluid and amniotic cell conditioned medium on human cells involved in wound healing

Amniotic membrane has been used successfully as a biological dressing for various kinds of wounds. In order to study exocrine activity in amniotic cells, we assessed the incorporation of 3H-thymidine in human fibroblasts and the increase in the number of human keratinocytes when stimulated with amniotic fluid and conditioned medium from amniotic cells. Both amniotic fluid and conditioned medium were shown to stimulate these cell types, which are crucial to the wound healing process. Amniotic fluid was the most potent of the two media tested. The effect exerted by amniotic fluid and conditioned medium were comparable to that of 10% fetal calf serum and a dose-dependent reponse was seen when the media were diluted. These results indicate that the special healing features seen in fetal wounds bathed in amniotic fluid, together with the wound healing properties of amniotic membrane used as a biological wound dressing, may be due to the exocrine activity of the amniotic cells.