Fetal Stem Cells in Farm Animals: Applications in Health and Production

Abstract

Scientifically validated embryonic stem (ES) cell lines in species other than mice, humans and some primates are not yet established. New insights into biological properties, and ease of derivation make fetal and adult stem cells play a vital role in livestock health and production. The placenta and fetal adnexa (such as umbilical cord blood, umbilical cord matrix, amnion and fetal fibroblasts) are immensely valuable sources of pluripotent and progenitor cell lineages. The fetal cells are easily accessible in larger quantities, and can be used for various applications including assisted reproduction, regenerative medicine or production of induced pluripotent stem cells. The fetal stem cells due to expression of pluripotency markers and sharing similar growth kinetics to ES cells, provide strong support to the notion that they may be biological homologues to ES cells.

Expression of Transcriptional Factor Genes (Oct-4, Nanog, and Sox-2) and Embryonic Stem Cell-Like Characters in Placental Membrane of Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)

“…Establishing stem cells for assisted reproduction and health application has been emphasized in this species (Dev et al 2011a, b;Singh et al 2011;Yadav et al 2012). In this study, we report characterization of pluripotency molecular markers and embryonic stem cells like characters in placental membrane from bubaline.…”

Culture, characterization and differentiation of cells from buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) amnion

“…Further, fetuses from abattoir can be used as sources of different organs and extra embryonic tissue to isolate various types of fetal stem cell-like cells (Yadav et al , 2012. In this study, the pluripotent stem cell-like cells have been isolated from abattoirderived bubaline amnion.…”

“…In the present study bubaline amnion cells were cryopreserved through a simplified method, which was succesfully used for fetal fibroblast cells (Yadav et al 2012). This shows the possibilities of using cryopreservation protocols for establishing somatic cell banking in buffaloes for conservation of valuable genotypes and germplasm.…”

“…Among animals, amniotic fluid (AF) derived cells have been reported in rodents (Marcus et al 2008), porcine (Zheng et al 2009) and buffalo . Review of the literature reveals the increasing demand of research on stem cells in livestock assisted reproduction and veterinary applications (Dev et al 2011;Nowak-Imialek et al 2011;Singh et al 2011;Yadav et al 2012). Further, the availability of an easily accessible and reproducible cell source may greatly facilitate the development of stem cell-based tissue engineering and therapies for regenerative veterinary medicine.…”

Advances in reproductive biotechnologies

“…However, the main limitations of using these cells is that the development of stem cell lines is robust along with the lack of cell-specific markers along with the lack of methods, at present for long-term culture and of pluripotency maintenance. In addition, it is also imperative to address the ethical concerns for the use of these cells both of diagnostic and therapeutic in livestock species [ 77 , 78 ].…”