Figure 3

Gene expression level of germ cell markers in embryoid bodies (EBs) derived from hAFCs and then cultured further for 1 or 2 weeks (1 w, 2 w). (A) EBs cultured under standard differentiation conditions, cultured in a differentiation conditions with the addition of a germ cell maturation factor cocktail (FAC) or cultured in human follicular fluid (HFF)-containing differentiation medium. EBs not exposed to differentiation conditions were used as negative controls for gene expression; 18 s rRNA was used as an internal housekeeping gene. Data represents means ± SE of 3 independent experiments. (B) Immunofluorescence analysis of cellular and subcellular protein expression for germ cell markers in embryoid bodies (EBs) derived from cultured human amniotic fluid cells (hAFCs). EBs were cultured for 1 week in basic differentiation medium, germ cell maturation factor cocktail (FAC)-supplemented differentiation medium or human follicular fluid (HFF)-supplemented differentiation medium Scale bars = 100 μm.