Protocols for the Isolation and Maintenance of Human Embryonic Stem Cells

Human embryonic stem (ES) cell lines have been derived from the inner cell mass of preimplantation embryos by culturing the cells on mouse embryonic feeder cells (1,2) In these conditions, human ES cells show remarkable proliferative capacity and stability in long-term culture (3) and have the capacity to differentiate into cell types from all three germ layers both in vitro and in vivo (1,2). Therefore, human ES cells may be a source of cells for cell therapies, drug screening, and functional genomics applications.