New Source of Stem Cells: Amniotic Fluid

MrBishop

MrBishop

Well-Known Member
After seven years of toiling, scientists at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Harvard School of Medicine report they have isolated stem cells from a new source: amniotic fluid. The researchers not only succeeded in separating the progenitor cells from the many cells residing in the watery fluid in the placenta surrounding an embryo, but were also able to coax the cells to differentiate into muscle, bone, fat, blood vessel, liver and nerve cells.

According to lead author Anthony Atala, director of Wake Forest's Institute of Regenerative Medicine, 99 percent of the U.S., population could conceivably find genetic matches for tissue regeneration or engineered organs from just 100,000 amniotic fluid samples. In its research, the team isolated stem cells via amniocentesis--a common procedure performed about 16 weeks into pregnancy during which amniotic fluid is drawn to test for genetic disorders in a fetus--as well as from the placenta after birth. The researchers write in their paper--published in this week's Nature Biotechnology--that stem cells make up 1 percent of all the cells in amniotic fluid samples.
"It's been known for decades that there are cells in amniotic fluid," Atala says. "The embryo is constantly shedding all these cells, as it's developing, to the amniotic fluid. The baby's actually breathing in, swallowing the fluid, and it's all coming out through all the pores and gets trapped in the placenta."

After isolating the cells, Atala and his team introduced growth factors to different cell lines in an attempt to assess their potency. They were able to get the amniotic fluid-derived stem (AFS) cells, to transform into many different types of tissue found in fat, blood vessels, liver, muscles and bone as well as the central nervous system. This range comprises all three embryonic germ layers: the mesoderm, the progenitor of bone, muscle and connective tissue; the endoderm, which develops into digestive organs as well as the lungs; and ectoderm, which becomes nerves, skin and the brain. In addition to laboratory experiments, the team studied AFS cells in mouse models, grafting neural stem cells into the brains of mutant mice with disrupted neural development and growing bone tissue in another set of immunodeficient mice.

"It adds t o the list of pluripotent stem cells that have already been identified in other sources and tissues," says Willem Fibbe, an immunohematologist at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands. "If these cells have this potential, what would be the specific reason to prefer amniotic fluid-derived cells over the umbilical-cord-derived cells, over the [fat-] tissue-derived cells and the bone-marrow-derived cells?"

Atala says that compared with other types of pluripotent stem cells--save embryonic stem cells--AFS cells are "truly pluripotent" and that their major advantage is that after two weeks of culturing they expand quickly, doubling every 36 hours so that they are in large supply. When compared with embryonic stem cells, AFS cells have two main advantages: First, no embryo needs to be harmed in harvesting the cells, sidestepping a major, hot-button political issue. Also, as Atala points out, AFS cells will not form tumor cells, as the considerably more raw embryo-derived cells can.

"They're not as early and they're not as wild," he explains. "The cells are further along the line of development--and you don't see fetuses developing tumors--so these cells are much more controlled." Atala adds that the AFS cells lie between embryonic and adult stem cells in that the former expand quickly, but can develop into tumors, whereas the latter will not become cancerous, but grow exceedingly slowly.

"The new paper by Atala's group is indeed a breakthrough in demonstrating such a high potential for therapy of a specific set of stem cells in amniotic fluid," observes Markus Hengstschläger, a geneticist at the University of Vienna who is part of the group that, in 2003, first identified the presence of stem cells in amniotic fluid. "It is always a very important question to determine the real potential of such cells."

Going forward, Atala plans to study therapeutic uses for the AFS cells as well as attempt to coax them to differentiate into the tissue found in the heart, pancreas and kidneys. "We still don't know what the benefits are of all these cells--all cells have their strengths," Atala says, referring to all different stem cell types. "We need to keep studying all these different cell types to see what works best for each application at the end."
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http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=F4BB3ACB-E7F2-99DF-349FD71C1164C66D&ref=rss
 
Now Bish, clearly you are unaware that all stem cells come from murdered babies.
 
...and the fetal stem cells...and, depending on who's arguing, all Stem cells.

This new source is pluripotent, which is great and kudos for finding it. I wonder if this will re-open financial support for research dependant on source instead. :shrug:

That is...it's OK to support research with tax dollars as long as the source of the stem cells is X, instead of as it stands now.
 
MrBishop said:
That is...it's OK to support research with tax dollars as long as the source of the stem cells is X, instead of as it stands now.
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Always has been, Bish. You just can't use stem cells from an aborted fetus. Looks like the propaganda machine is still running full force on that issue, if your statement is to be believed...;)
 
Actually...stem cells from aborted fetuses aren't all that useful anyway :shrug:

The use of stem cells from established stem cell lines, and limited therein, is what will allow a corporate/school/individual research to be supported by the GVT.

In other words... it doesn't matter that taking stem cells from amniotic fluid, or umbilical cords, or anywhere else for that matter doesn't harm babies/fetuses/fertilized & frozen ova... they're still not from established stem cell lines and are therefore not eligible for research grants.

This is the crux of the issue with the current policy of research. Faith blinded
 
MrBishop said:
Actually...stem cells from aborted fetuses aren't all that useful anyway :shrug:

The use of stem cells from established stem cell lines, and limited therein, is what will allow a corporate/school/individual research to be supported by the GVT.
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That's not how I understood it, but go ahead...you're on a roll. :shrug:

Bish said:
This is the crux of the issue with the current policy of research. Faith blinded
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Nope. More like not following the liberal manifesto to the letter. Funny how anything against the liberal lines is almost always downplayed as faith-based or religious, innit?
 
Gato said:
That's not how I understood it, but go ahead...you're on a roll.
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Federal funding of research using existing embryonic stem cell lines is consistent with the President's belief in the fundamental value and sanctity of human life. The President's decision reflects his fundamental commitment to preserving the value and sanctity of human life and his desire to promote vital medical research. The President's decision will permit federal funding of research using the more than 60 existing stem cell lines that have already been derived, but will not sanction or encourage the destruction of additional human embryos. The embryos from which the existing stem cell lines were created have already been destroyed and no longer have the possibility of further development as human beings. Federal funding of medical research on these existing stem cell lines will promote the sanctity of life " without undermining it " and will allow scientists to explore the potential of this research to benefit the lives of millions of people who suffer from life destroying diseases.

Federal funds will only be used for research on existing stem cell lines that were derived:


(1) with the informed consent of the donors;
(2) from excess embryos created solely for reproductive purposes; and
(3) without any financial inducements to the donors.
In order to ensure that federal funds are used to support only stem cell research that is scientifically sound, legal, and ethical, the NIH will examine the derivation of all existing stem cell lines and create a registry of those lines that satisfy this criteria. More than 60 existing stem cell lines from genetically diverse populations around the world are expected to be available for federally-funded research.

No federal funds will be used for:


(1) the derivation or use of stem cell lines derived from newly destroyed embryos;
(2) the creation of any human embryos for research purposes; or
(3) the cloning of human embryos for any purpose.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gato_Solo
Nope. More like not following the liberal manifesto to the letter. Funny how anything against the liberal lines is almost always downplayed as faith-based or religious, innit?

Bish: In this case..it is faith-based.
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you mean you believe the statement to be true? :grinyes:
 
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