title: Amnion: a potent graft source for cell therapy in stroke.
abstract: Regenerative medicine is a new field primarily based on the concept of transplanting exogenous or stimulating endogenous stem cells to generate biological substitutes and improve tissue functions. Recently, amnion-derived cells have been reported to have multipotent differentiation ability, and these cells have attracted attention as a novel cell source for cell transplantation therapy. Cells isolated from amniotic membrane can differentiate into all three germ layers, have low immunogenicity and anti-inflammatory function, and do not require the destruction of human embryos for their isolation, thus circumventing the ethical debate commonly associated with the use of human embryonic stem cells. Accumulating evidence now suggests that the amnion, which had been discarded after parturition, is a highly potent transplant material in the field of regenerative medicine. In this report, we review the current progress on the characterization of MSCs derived from the amnion as a remarkable transplantable cell population with therapeutic potential for multiple CNS disorders, especially stroke.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Seong Jin
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Maddalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soncini
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Hess
authors.forename: Ornella
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Parolini
authors.forename: Cesar V
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Borlongan
mesh_terms: D053687:Adult Stem Cells / Q000637:transplantation; D000650:Amnion / Q000166:cytology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000637:transplantation; D006801:Humans; D045164:Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation; D020521:Stroke / Q000628:therapy*