| abstract |
The present invention relates to a skin equivalent and a method for producing the same, wherein the skin equivalent comprises a scaffold and stem/progenitor cells isolated from the amniotic membrane of umbilical cord. These stem/progenitor cells may be mesenchymal (UCMC) and/or epithelial (UCEC) stem cells, which may then be further differentiated to fibroblast and keratinocytes. Further described is a method for isolating stem/progenitor cells from the amniotic membrane of umbilical cord, wherein the method comprises separating the amniotic membrane from the other components of the umbilical cord in vitro, culturing the amniotic membrane tissue under conditions allowing cell proliferation, and isolating the stem/progenitor cells from the tissue cultures. The invention also refers to therapeutic uses of these skin equivalents. Another aspect of the invention relates to the generation of a mucin-producing cell using stem/progenitor cells obtained from the amniotic membrane of umbilical cord and therapeutic uses of such mucin-producing cells. In yet another aspect, the invention relates to a method for generating an insulin-producing cell using stem/progenitor cells isolated from the amniotic membrane of umbilical cord and therapeutic uses thereof. The invention further refers to a method of treating a bone or cartilage disorder using UCMC. Furthermore, the invention refers to a method of generating a dopamin and tyrosin hydroxylase as well as a HLA-G and hepatocytes using UCMC and/or UCEC. The present invention also refers to a method of inducing proliferation of aged keratinocytes using UCMC. |