Isolated adult pluripotent stem cells and methods for isolating and cultivating thereof

A method of producing adult pluripotent stem cells from exocrine glandular tissue, wherein said exocrine glandular tissue is derived from a salivary gland, lacrimal gland, sudoriferous gland or sebaceous gland, and wherein said pluripotent adult stem cells are—after culturing under spatial conditions which ensure three-dimensional contact of the cells—capable of differentiating into cell types of all three germ layers in a culture medium that does not contain any additional growth factors or differentiation factors, the method comprising the following steps:

• the exocrine glandular tissue is mechanically and enzymatically divided in such a manner that the cell structures in the resulting tissue fragments are largely preserved;
• the divided tissue is cultured in an adherent culture;
• the adherent cells persisting in the culture are further cultured and nonadherent differentiated cells are separated by a change of medium;
• and
• adult pluripotent stem cells are obtained from the culture.