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TISSUE-SPECIFIC STEM CELLS

Concise Review: Isolation and Characterization of Cells from Human Term Placenta: Outcome of the First International Workshop on Placenta Derived Stem Cells

^aCentro di Ricerca E. Menni, Fondazione Poliambulanza, Istituto Ospedaliero, Brescia, Italy;
^bDepartment of Histology, Embryology and Applied Biology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy;
^cDepartment of Obstetrics, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland;
^dDepartment of Internal Medicine II, University Clinic of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany;
^eRed Cross Blood Transfusion Service of Upper Austria/Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Experimental and Clinical Traumatology, Linz-Vienna, Austria;
^fDepartment of Cell Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing, China;
^gDepartment of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA;
^hInstitute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan;
ⁱDepartment of Regenerative Medicine, University of Toyama Faculty of Medicine, Toyama, Japan;
^jDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Berne, Berne, Switzerland;
^kDepartment of Anatomy, University of Madras, Chennai, India;
^lDepartment of Regenerative Medicine, Kitasato University, Kanagawa, Japan

Key Words. Human placenta • Fetal membranes • Amnion • Chorion • Mesenchymal stromal cells • Fetal tolerance

Correspondence: Correspondence: Ornella Parolini, Ph.D., Centro di Ricerca E. Menni, Fondazione Poliambulanza, Istituto Ospedaliero, Via Bissolati 57, 25124 Brescia, Italy. Telephone: 39-030-2455-754; Fax: 39-030-2455-704; e-mail: ornella.parolini{at}tin.it

Received on July 24, 2007; accepted for publication on October 18, 2007.

First published online in STEM CELLS EXPRESS  November 1, 2007.


Placental tissue draws great interest as a source of cells for regenerative medicine because of the phenotypic plasticity of many of the cell types isolated from this tissue. Furthermore, placenta, which is involved in maintaining fetal tolerance, contains cells that display immunomodulatory properties. These two features could prove useful for future cell therapy-based clinical applications. Placental tissue is readily available and easily procured without invasive procedures, and its use does not elicit ethical debate. Numerous reports describing stem cells from different parts of the placenta, using nearly as numerous isolation and characterization procedures, have been published. Considering the complexity of the placenta, an urgent need exists to define, as clearly as possible, the region of origin and methods of isolation of cells derived from this tissue. On March 23–24, 2007, the first international Workshop on Placenta Derived Stem Cells was held in Brescia, Italy. Most of the research published in this area focuses on mesenchymal stromal cells isolated from various parts of the placenta or epithelial cells isolated from amniotic membrane. The aim of this review is to summarize and provide the state of the art of research in this field, addressing aspects such as cell isolation protocols and characteristics of these cells, as well as providing preliminary indications of the possibilities for use of these cells in future clinical applications.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.

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