Figure 1.

The expression of stem and germ cell-specific genes in undifferentiated human amniotic fluid cells (hAFCs). (A,B) Quantitative PCR was used to compare stem cell and germ cell specific gene expression in hAFCs obtained from 6 independent samples, human embryonic stem cells (hES) and human GV oocytes. Human skin fibroblast cells (hSFC) were used as negative controls and 18 s RNA was used as an internal housekeeping gene. Results shown represent mean ± standard deviation from three independent experiments. (C) Immunofluorescence analysis of germ cell-specific genes in human GV oocytes. Scale bars = 50 μm. (D) Immunofluorescence analysis of germ cell-specific genes in undifferentiated hAFCs. While hAFCs expressed OCT4, expression was negative for BLIMP1, DAZL, STELLA, ZPC and SCP3. Scale bars = 50 μm.