Review on Ethical Issues in Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research and the Use Amniotic Fluid Cells in the Stem Cell Therapy

Stem cell research is a very fascinating and promising field that provides hopes to treat many disease. It is evident that the stem cell can be able to renew, replicate and can be differentiate itself into 200 cell types. The very first isolation technique of embryonic stem cells was carried out by James Thomson and his team at the university of Wisconsin.(Kaufman, D.S. et al.,1999; Barclay, E et al., 2009.) Stem cell research is very useful in understanding the development of human organ and helps in treating many diseases such as diabetes, spinal cord, Parkinson’s disease and Myocardial infarction (Committee on the Biological and Biomedical Applications of Stem Cell Research et al., 2002). The embryonic stem cell research is highly controversial because they are derived from blastocyst. To date, the human embryonic stem cells are derived from In vitro fertilisation. (Guido de Wert et al., 2003)A major goal in this area review is to identify potential new sources for the isolation of progenitor cells or stem cells, without raising the ethical issues involved in embryonic stem cell research.Amniotic fluid cells (AFC) are widely used in routine Prenatal genetic testing , and it is evident that these AFC can be a potent source of pluripotent stem cell in the stem cell research (Andrea-RomanaPrusa et al., 2002)