Isolation of human stem cells from full-term gestation amniotic fluid using immunoselection and one-stage culture techniques

The human amniotic fluid (AF) at full-term gestation has been observed to contain highly potent stem cells. Several works on human full-term amniotic fluid stem cells (AFSCs) have categorized the cells as broad multipotent and nontumorigenic upon transplantation. Being a merely discarded fluid, procurement of the full-term AF imposes no risk to the baby and the mother and therefore involves less ethical concerns. These cells express several pluripotency markers, such as Oct-4, Sox2, Nanog, and SSEA, and differentiate into cells of the three primary germ layers, including neural progenitors. These characteristics have put them to become one of the prospective cells for transplantation. This chapter aims to describe the establishment and the characteristics of AFSCs from the human AF at full-term gestation.