Term Amniotic Fluid: An Unexploited Reserve of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells for Reprogramming and Potential Cell Therapy Applications

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) are currently being evaluated in numerous preclinical and clinical cell-based therapy studies. Furthermore, there is an increasing interest in exploring alternative uses of these cells in disease modelling, pharmaceutical screening and regenerative medicine by applying reprogramming technologies. However, the limited availability of MSCs from various sources, restricts their use. Term amniotic fluid has been proposed as an alternative source of MSCs. Previously, only low volumes of term fluid and its cellular constituents have been collected, and current knowledge of the MSCs derived from this fluid is limited. In this study, we collected amniotic fluid at term using a novel collection system and evaluated amniotic fluid MSC content and their characteristics, including their feasibility to undergo cellular reprogramming. Two replicates of cord blood endothelium are compared to two replicates of amniotic fluid cells