Growth Factors and the Serum-free Culture of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Abstract

Since the first reports of the development of human embryonic stem cells (hESC), there have been several advances in the ability to grow these cells in vitro, but not all of these goals have been achieved to date. This chapter reviews the current status of development of culture systems for hESC. The development of human embryonic stem cells (hESC), presaged by work on stem cell lines from human embryonal carcinoma (EC) and monkey ES cells, led to a great surge of interest in potential therapeutic applications of pluripotent stem cells. The early reports of derivation of both monkey and hESC used serum-containing medium in combination with mouse embryo feeder cell support to maintain stem ce..