Human term placenta found to be a reservoir of hematopoietic cells

Washington, June 25 (ANI): Scientists at Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, Oakland, California, have discovered a new method to obtain large numbers of hematopoietic stem cell from human term placenta.

The results of the study give a detailed account on quantification, characterization, engraftment capacity, and most importantly, practical way to obtain hematopoietic stem cells from placenta in numbers that are several-fold higher than could be obtained from cord blood.

The investigating team led by Dr. Vladimir Serikov, performed studies in human term placentas, human cord blood, and immunodeficient mice.

Serikov said, that more than a year ago, their team had for the first time reported that the human term placenta is a hematopoietic organ.

He said that in this study they have shown that human placentas could provide abundant amounts of CD34+ CD133+ colony-forming cells, as well as other primitive hematopoietic progenitors, suitable for transplantation in humans.

The researchers claimed that their results indicate for the first time that human term placenta is a high capacity source of live and functional hematopoietic stem cells.

By using placental circulation and stem cell receptor blockade an abundant amounts of hematopoietic stem cell could be easily obtained in sterile conditions by non-destructive methods.

The study is published in the July 2009 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine. (ANI)