title: Establishment and characterization of a pluripotent stem cell line derived from human amniotic membranes and initiation of germ layers in vitro.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pluripotent stem cells are proposed to be used in regenerative therapy and may exist in the human amniotic membrane. The present article is aimed at establishing a pluripotent stem cell line from human placenta.
  
  
  METHODS
  HAM-1 (stem cell line derived from human amniotic membranes) was established by the colonial cloning technique using aMEM culture medium containing 10 ng/ml of EGF, 10 ng/ml of hLIF and 10% fetal bovine serum.
  
  
  RESULTS
  HAM-1 cells appeared to maintain a normal karyotype indefinitely in vitro and expressed markers characteristic of stem cells from mice and human, namely alkaline phosphatase. Also, these cells contributed to the formation of chimeric mouse embryoid bodies and gave rise to cells of all germ layers in vitro.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrates that human amniotic membranes derived stem cells have a wide developmental capability and might be utilized to regenerate different types of cells or tissues for transplantation therapy.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Cell Biology, Ishiwata Hospital, 1-4-21, Kamimito, Mito-shi, Ibaraki 310-0041, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoharu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tamagawa
authors.forename: Isamu
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ishiwata
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saito
mesh_terms: D000650:Amnion / Q000166:cytology*; D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D046528:Chimerism; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003470:Culture Media; D004627:Embryonic Induction; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D005855:Germ Layers / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D007621:Karyotyping; D051379:Mice; D038081:Organogenesis; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D044968:Regenerative Medicine
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media