Extra Embryonic Fetal Tissues

The fetal stem cells, isolated from the supporting extra-embryonic tissues have gained a lot of popularity recently due to their tremendous sense of plasticity and differentiation capacity. Studies have indicated that multiple extra-embryonic tissues are the highly populated sources of putative stem cells, present at the pluripotent levels. Whether amniotic membrane, placenta, umbilical cord-derived Wharton’s jelly, placenta, or amnion, all are the richest sources of pluripotent stem cells that offer many advantages over embryonic as well as adult tissue sources. Since these extra-embryonic tissues are collectively discarded afterbirth, there is little or no ethical controversy in harvesting the resident stem cell population. These cell sources are highly preferred due to their extracorporeal nature of fetal stem cells, eliminating the patient risk that attends the adult stem cell isolation, etc.

The cells are tested for morphological analysis, growth rate potential, adherence rate potential, and surface characterization potential for a comprehensive panel of markers. The cell sources are also assessed for infectious panel markers like HIV-1/2, HBV, HCV and HTLV 1/2, etc.