Sources and Derivation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells

  • Michal Amit
Protocol
First Online:
Part of the Methods in Molecular Biology book series (MIMB, volume 997)

Abstract

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are pluripotent cells derived from the inner cell mass (ICM) of the developing embryo. hESCs culture as cell lines in vitro and possess great potential in such research fields as developmental biology and cell-based therapy, as well as such industrial purposes as drug screening and toxicology. When ESCs were first derived by Thomson and colleagues, traditional methods of immunostaining and culturing, using primary mouse embryonic fibroblasts and medium supplemented by serum were used. Considerable efforts have since led to improved methods for isolating new lines in defined and reproducible conditions. This chapter discusses sources for embryos for ESC isolation, commonly used methods for deriving hESC lines, and a number of possible culture systems.

Key words

Human Pluripotent stem cells Derivation Sources 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Mrs. Hadas O’Neill for editing the manuscript. The research conducted was partly supported by Technion Research and Development Foundation (TRDF).

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • Michal Amit
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Obstetrics and GynecologyTechnion Israel Institute of Technology, Rambam Medical CenterHaifaIsrael

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