Discover new sources of germ cell production

Scientists at Wake Forest University and Harvard Medical School say they have found a plentiful source of new stem cell production: from the membranes of pregnant women. This finding will help controversy surrounding embryonic destruction to study cessation of stem cells.

These new source stem cells are called AFS cells and can be an intermediate stage between embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells.

Dr. Anthony Atala, director of the Rehabilitation Institute of Wake Forest University and his research team began to study the use of amniotic fluid to produce stem cells seven years ago. They took a long time to confirm that these were true germ cells.'These cells can repair themselves, the trait that is only found in germ cells. They can also be used to produce a range of cells that can be used to treat diseases, ' Atala said.

According to the researchers, they can extract germ cells without harming the mother or fetus and converting them into many different cell types, including brain, liver and bone cells. The initial experiment in mice showed that many of the created cells functioned as normal tissues and even helped restore some of the functions in brain-damaged mice.

Germ cells can be made from fluid around the developing fetus
(Photo: menneske.dk)

Dr. George Daley, a researcher at Harvard University's stem cell research team, said that one day, people could chill stem cells taken from amniotic membranes of pregnant mothers for future use if their children what they have to replace internal organs without worrying about being eliminated during transplantation.

The findings are published in Nature Biotechnology (USA).

T.VY