A cat who is a 15-year-old and spayed female visited an animal clinic with severe coughing symptoms. Since the cat’s coughing symptoms had worsened from the age of 10 and X-rays showed a bronchial pattern in the lungs, it was diagnosed as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). She received three injections of stem cells isolated from the amniotic membrane on days 0, 7, and 23. Although there was no improvement in the clinical findings on the x-ray, the number of coughing was significantly reduced. In addition, even after long-term follow-up post treatment for a month, she was stable with almost no coughing.

Amniotic membrane stem cells are considered as a good alternative to embryonic stem cells, but their use in clinical studies is still not common. Here, exosomes from canine amniotic membrane mesenchymal stem cells (cAmMSCexo) were used for dog sperm cryopreservation. Upon cryopreserved straws using cryoprotectant containing 0, 0.5, 1, or 2 μg/mL of cAmMSC-exo were thawed, motility and membrane integrity were analyzed. However, results showed no significant differences between the groups. We concluded that cAmMSC-exo with lower than 2 µg/mL have no effects on sperm cryopreservation, and further studies to get higher concentrations of cAmMSC-exo should be conducted for clinical application.

The present study was conducted to investigate gelatinolytic activities in HAM and to determine whether there are any changes in gelatinolytic activity profiles when the cells are cultured in hepatogenic medium. Placenta was obtained during caesarean section of the volunteers, with informed consent. HAM were isolated from amniotic membrane using collagenase type A HAM were cultured in hepatogenic medium for 3 weeks and the conditioned media were obtained at day 7, 14 and 21. The zymographic pattern of gelatinolytic activity of the HAM did not undergo a change during passages. When the HAM were cultured in a fibronectin-coated dishes in a hepatogenic medium, there was no significant difference of the gelatinase pattern between before and after culture. However, when bFGF was added to the culture, a dramatic increase of 62kDa and 59kDa gelatinases was observed. Interestingly, when ITS instead of FN was present, HAM-conditioned medium also showed a similar increase of both gelatinases. Immunoblotting analysis demonstrated that both 62kDa and 59kDa gelatinases were the active form of MMP-2 resulting from the turnover of MMP-2 proform. Futher study will be necessary to determine the relationship between bFGF and active MMP-2 during hepatogenesis of HAM.

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have been routinely cultured on mouse embryonic fibroblast feeder layers with a medium containing animal materials. For clinical application of hESCs, animal-derived products from the animal feeder cells, animal substrates such as gelatin or Matrigel and animal serum are strictly to be eliminated in the culture system. In this study, we performed that SNUhES32 and H1 were cultured on human amniotic fluid cells (hAFCs) with KOSR XenoFree and a humanized substrate. All of hESCs were relatively well propagated on hAFCs feeders with xeno-free conditions and they expressed pluripotent stem cell markers, alkaline phosphatase, SSEA-4, TRA1-60, TRA1-81, Oct-4, and Nanog like hESCs cultured on STO or human foreskin fibroblast feeders. In addition, we observed the expression of nonhuman N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5GC) molecules by flow cytometry, which was xenotransplantation components of contamination in hESCs cultured on animal feeder conditions, was not detected in this xeno-free condition. In conclusion, SNUhES32 and H1 could be maintained on hAFCs for humanized culture conditions, therefore, we suggested that new xenofree conditions for clinical grade hESCs culture will be useful data in future clinical studies.

Human eyelid adipose-derived stem cells (hEAs) and amniotic mesenchymal stem cells (hAMs) are very valuable sources for the cell therapeutics. Both types of cells have a great proliferating ability in vitro and a multipotency to differentiate into adipocytes, osteoblasts and chondrocytes. In the present study, we evaluated their stem cell characteristics after long-time cryopreservation for 6, 12 and 24 months. When frozen-thawed cells were cultivated in vitro, their cumulative cell number and doubling time were similar to freshly prepared cells. Also they expressed stem cell-related genes of SCF, NANOG, OCT4, and TERT, ectoderm-related genes of NCAM and FGF5, mesoderm/endoderm-related genes of CK18 and VIM, and immune-related genes of HLA-ABC and 2M. Following differentiation culture in appropriate culture media for 2-3 weeks, both types of cells exhibited well differentiation into adipocyte, osteoblast, and chondrocyte, as revealed by adipogenic, osteogenic or chondrogenic-specific staining and related genes, respectively. In conclusion, even after long-term storage hEAs and hAMs could maintain their stem cell characteristics, suggesting that they might be suitable for clinical application based on stem cell therapy.

Estrogen related receptor β(Esrrb)는 오르판 수용체 중 하나로 전분화능 관련유전자인 Oct4와 Nanog의 발현을 조절함으로써 줄기세포의 미분화를 유지시키고, 지속적인 자기 복제를 가능케 하는 유전자로 알려져 있다. 또한 Feng 등 (2009)은 체세포에 Oct4, Sox2와 함께 Esrrb 유전자를 함께 도입하면, 유전자가 변형된 체세포가 배아 줄기세포와 유사한 유도만능줄기세포로 리프로그래밍(reprograming)되어 진다는 결과를 보고한 바 있다. 본 연구에서는 인간 ESRRB 단백질을 양수유래줄기세포 내로 직접도입하는 방법을 개발하고, 이를 통해 전분화능 관련유전자의 기능 조절을 확인하고자 하였다. 클로닝 된 인간 short-form ESRRB를 세포투과 펩타이드(cell-penetrating peptide, CPP)의 일종인 R7(아르기닌 7개)에 접합(Fusion)하였고, 합성단백질 (R7-ESRRB-His6)의 형태로 배양중인 인간 양수 유래 줄기세포에 처리하여 세포내로 도입하였다. R7-ESRRB-His6 단백질은 5시간 내에 세포막을 통과하였고, 24시간 내에 핵 내로 이동하였다. 또한 핵 내로 이동한 ESRRB 단백질은 OCT4와 NANOG 유전자의 발현을 증가시켰을 뿐만 아니라, 또 다른 전분화능 관련유전자인 SOX2의 발현도 함께 증가시킨다는 것을 확인하였다. 이상의 결과는 세포투과 펩타이드와 유전자의 접합을 통해 생산된 R7-ESRRB-His6 합성단백질이 양수유래줄기세포내로 원활하게 도입되는 것을 확인하였고, 유전자의 변형 없이 전분화능 관련유전자의 기능을 조절할 수 있는 방법임을 확인하였다.

태반은 성체줄기세포의 보고이다. 특히 양막상피세포는 배아줄기세포의 줄기세포 능력을 나타내는 세포 표면 표시자들을 그대로 발현하는 줄기세포로 알려져 있다. 하지만 상피세포를 실험실에서 지지세포 없이 대량 증식 배양하는 것은 상피세포가 가지고 있는 내인성 성격으로 인해 어렵다. 본 연구에서는 디티오트레이톨(Dithiothreitol; DTT)과 ROCK 저해제(Rho-associated kinase inhibitor)를 이용하여 양막상피세포를 분리하고 배양

간질환 환자의 대부분은 간 조직 손상으로 인해 간세포의 재생 능력이 감소한다. 간세포 이식은 이러한 간질환을 치료하는데 있어 혁신적인 방법으로 대두되고 있으나, 여전히 많은 의문과 문제점이 제기되고 있다. 사람의 양막으로부터 얻은 줄기 세포를 이용하여 간세포 분화를 위한 최적의 조건을 알아 보고자 하였다. 세포내 알부민에 대한 면역 화학적 방법, 세포내 글리코겐의 특이 염색법, 세포의 형태적 변화 연구 방법 등을 이용하여 여러가지 배양 조건을 조사한 결