Cristina Bucchi & Josep Maria de Anta

Human amnion epithelial cells (hAECs) are pluripotent stem cells; they have the ability to differentiate into cells of the three embryonic layers, and are used in various regenerative therapies in medicine. This study aims to describe a protocol for the isolation of amnion epithelial cells (hAECs) from human placentas from cesarean delivery, as well as their characterization and culture conditions in vitro. hAECs were isolated from 20 cesarean delivery placentas with an optimized protocol. The cells were characterized by flow cytometry, light and fluorescence microscopy, and the proliferation of the cells was evaluated by MTT at 1, 3, 5 and 7 days with and without b-mercaptoethanol in the culture medium. Histological analysis of the amnion showed a practically complete detachment of the cells of the underlying membrane after the second digestion. The average number of cells obtained was 10.97 million cells per amnion. The hAECs perform a limited proliferation rate, which was not favored by the addition of b-mercaptoethanol in the culture. A spontaneous morphology change from epithelial to mesenchymal morphology is exhibited after the fourth passage. The epithelial cells of the amnion can be isolated with a simple and effective protocol, however, they present little proliferative capacity. Under the conditions of this study, the addition of b-mercaptoethanol does not favor the proliferation of the cells.

KEY WORDS: human amnion epithelial cells, pluripotent cells, isolation protocol.

BUCCHI, C. & DE ANTA, J. M. Isolation and characterization of amniotic ephitelial cells. Int. J. Morphol., 40(3):817-823, 2022.