%0 Journal Article %T Stem Cells in Amniotic Fluid - What are the Next Steps to Do? %A Hengstschl£¿ger M %J Journal f¨¹r Reproduktionsmedizin und Endokrinologie %D 2005 %I Krause & Pachernegg GmbH %X It is the hope of patients and investigators that in future the characterisation and isolation of human stem cells will allow the establishment of new therapeutic concepts for a wide variety of diseases. Recently, we found a new source for stem cells. Human amniotic fluid contains cells, which express Oct-4, a marker for pluripotent stem cells. In addition, we described amniotic fluid cells expressing markers for neuronal stem cells. The latter harbour the potential to differentiate into neurogenic cells. This opened a new field in stem cell research. In this review I want to summarise the current knowledge about amniotic fluid cells focusing on the open questions, which need to be investigated in future. %K Endokrinologie %K Fruchtwasser %K Pluripotenzgen Oct-4 %K Stammzelle %K amniotic fluid %K differentiation potential %K endocrinology %K oct-4 %K stem cell %U http://www.kup.at/kup/pdf/5418.pdf