GROWTH STIMULATORY EFFECTS OF AMNIOTIC-FLUID AND AMNIOTIC CELL-CONDITIONED MEDIUM ON HUMAN-CELLS INVOLVED IN WOUND-HEALING

Amniotic membrane has been used successfully as a biological dressing for various kinds of wounds. In order to study exocrine activity in am niotic cells, we assessed the incorporation of H-3-thymidine in human fibroblasts and the increase in the number of human keratinocytes when stimulated with amniotic fluid and conditioned medium from amniotic c ells. Both amniotic fluid and conditioned medium were shown to stimula te these cell types, which are crucial to the wound healing process. A mniotic fluid was the most potent of the two media tested. The effect exerted by amniotic fluid and conditioned medium were comparable to th at of 10% fetal calf serum and a dose-dependent reponse was seen when the media were diluted. These results indicate that the special healin g features seen in fetal wounds bathed in amniotic fluid, together wit h the wound healing properties of amniotic membrane used as a biologic al wound dressing, may be due to the exocrine activity of the amniotic cells.