Abstract:

BACKGROUND: In recent years, the studies on uterine endometrial stem cells, especially endometrial stem cells, have made great progress, many scholars have indentified the existence of endometrial stem cells through different ways.
OBJECTIVE: To review the basis for the existence, location and surface markers of endometrial stem cells.
METHODS: Wanfang database was used to retrieve the articles published from January 1995 to December 2010 with the key words of “endometrium stem cell” in Chinese. The PudMed database was also used to search the articles published from January 1995 to December 2010 with the key words of “endometrium stem cell” in English. A total of 233 articles were retrieved. Finally, 30 articles were selected according to the inclusion criteria.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: In recent years, the study on the isolation and identification of endometrial stem cells has made great progress, but the specific markers of endometrial stem cells were still need to be explored. Here, we will review our current understanding of the possibility existence, the possible location and the possible surface markers of endometrial stem cells through colony-forming ability, cell mark retention experiments and tissue reconstruction capacity.