309 PROTEOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE BLASTOCOEL FLUID AND REMAINING CELLS OF BOVINE BLASTOCYSTS

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 301
Author(s):  
P. L. Jensen ◽  
M. L. Groendahl ◽  
H. C. Beck ◽  
J. Petersen ◽  
L. Stroebech ◽  
...  

Human embryonic stem cells (hESC) are derived from the human blastocyst and possess the potential to differentiate into any cell type present in the adult human body. Human ESC are considered to have great potential in regenerative medicine for the future treatment of severe diseases and conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, and spinal cord injury. One of today’s challenges in regenerative medicine is to define proper culture conditions for hESC. The natural milieu in the blastocyst may provide clues on how to improve culture conditions, and the aim of the present study was to determine the proteome of the blastocoel fluid and the remaining cells of bovine blastocysts. Bovine blastocysts were produced by in vitro fertilization of oocytes retrieved from slaughterhouse ovaries. The blastocoel from 195 blastocysts (1–8 nL per blastocyst) were isolated by micromanipulation and analysed by nano-HPLC tandem mass spectrometry along with the remaining cells of the blastocyst. Searching the mass spectrometry data against a combined bovine database (SwissProt/TrEMBL), we identified 263 proteins in the blastocoel fluid and 1606 proteins in the cellular compartment of the blastocyst. A Venn diagram showed 124 proteins in overlap between the two compartments of the blastocyst. Several heat shock proteins and specific antioxidants were identified in both the blastocoel and cell material. A selection of proteins identified in the blastocoel fluid is to be tested on hESC in cell culture experiments, with proliferation of undifferentiated cells as the primary endpoint. The results from this study provide new knowledge about early mammalian preimplantation development, and the data can be used in the continued pursue of improving culture conditions for hESC, which further facilitates the clinical application of these cells.

Author(s):  
Mayuko Kano ◽  
Hidetaka Suga ◽  
Hiroshi Arima

Abstract The hypothalamus and pituitary have been identified to play essential roles in maintaining homeostasis. Various diseases can disrupt the functions of these systems, which can often result in serious lifelong symptoms. The current treatment for hypopituitarism involves hormone replacement therapy. However, exogenous drug administration cannot mimic the physiological changes that are a result of hormone requirements. Therefore, patients are at a high risk of severe hormone deficiency, including adrenal crisis. Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) self-proliferate and differentiate into all types of cells. The generation of endocrine tissues from PSCs has been considered as another new treatment for hypopituitarism. Our colleagues established a three-dimensional culture method for embryonic stem cells (ESCs). In this culture, the ESC-derived aggregates exhibit self-organization and spontaneous formation of highly ordered patterning. Recent results have shown that strict removal of exogenous patterning factors during early differentiation efficiently induces rostral hypothalamic progenitors from mouse ESCs. These hypothalamic progenitors generate vasopressinergic neurons, which release neuropeptides upon exogenous stimulation. Subsequently, we reported adenohypophysis tissue self-formation in three-dimensional cultures of mouse ESCs. The ESCs were found to differentiate into both non-neural oral ectoderm and hypothalamic neuroectoderm in adjacent layers. Interactions between the two tissues appear to be critically important for in vitro induction of a Rathke's pouch-like developing embryo. Various endocrine cells were differentiated from non-neural ectoderm. The induced corticotrophs efficiently secreted adrenocorticotropic hormone when engrafted in vivo, which rescued hypopituitary hosts. For future regenerative medicine, generation of hypothalamic and pituitary tissues from human PSCs is necessary. We and other groups succeeded in establishing a differentiation method with the use of human PSCs. Researchers could use these methods for models of human diseases to elucidate disease pathology or screen potential therapeutics.


Author(s):  
D. Gareth Jones

The advent of in vitro fertilization (IVF) marked a watershed in the scientific understanding of the human embryo. This, in turn, led to a renaissance of human embryology, accompanied by the ability to manipulate the human embryo in the laboratory. This ability has resulted in yet further developments: refinements of IVF itself, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, the derivation and extraction of embryonic stem cells, and even various forms of cloning. There are immense social and scientific pressures to utilize the artificial reproductive technologies in ways that have little or no connection with overcoming infertility. As the original clinical goals of IVF have undergone transformation ethical concerns have escalated, so much so that they are condemned by some as illustrations of ‘playing God’, while any babies born via some of these procedures are labelled as ‘designer babies’. Both terms reflect the fear and repugnance felt by some at the interference with the earliest stages of human life by the artificial reproductive technologies. It is at these points that bioethical analyses have an important contribution to make.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thanh Luan Nguyen ◽  
Jae Gyu Yoo ◽  
Neelesh Sharma ◽  
Sung Woo Kim ◽  
Yong Jun Kang ◽  
...  

Abstract Human, murine and monkey spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) have the capability to undergo self-renewal and differentiation into different body cell types in vitro, which are expected to serve as a powerful tool and resource for the developmental biology and regenerative medicine. We have successfully isolated and characterized the chicken SSCs from 3-day-old chicken testicular cells. The pluripotency was using Periodic Acid-Schiff (PAS ) staining or alkaline phosphatase staining, and antibodies to stage-specific embryonic antigens. In suspension culture conditions SSCs formed embryoid bodies (EBs) like embryonic stem (ES) cells. Subsequently EB differentiated into osteoblasts, adipocytes and most importantly into cardiomyocytes under induced differentiation conditions. The differentiation potential of EBs into cardiomyocyte-like cells was confirmed by using antibodies against sarcomeric α-actinin, cardiac troponin T and connexin 43. Cardiomyocytes-like cells were also confirmed by RT-PCR analysis for several cardiac cell genes like GATA-4, Nkx2-5, α-MHC, and ANF. We have successfully established an in vitro differentiation system for chicken SSCs into different body cells such as osteoblasts, adipocytes and cardiomyocytes. The most significant finding of this study is the differentiation potential of chicken SSCs into cardiomyocytes. Our findings may have implication in developmental biology and regenerative medicine by using chicken as the most potential animal model.


2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 248
Author(s):  
S.-G. Lee ◽  
C.-H. Park ◽  
D.-H. Choi ◽  
H.-Y. Son ◽  
C.-K. Lee

Use of blastocysts produced in vitro would be an efficient way to generate embryonic stem (ES) cells for the production of transgenic animals and the study of developmental gene regulation. In pigs, the morphology and cell number of in vitro-produced blastocysts are inferior to these parameters in their in vivo counterparts. Therefore, establishment of ES cells from blastocysts produced in vitro might be hindered by poor embryo quality. The objective of this study was to increase the cell number of blastocysts derived by aggregating 4–8-cell stage porcine embryos produced in vitro. Cumulus–oocyte complexes were collected from prepubertal gilt ovaries, and matured in vitro. Embryos at the 4–8-cell stage were produced by culturing embryos for two days after in vitro fertilization (IVF). After removal of the zona pellucida with acid Tyrode’s solution, one (1X), two (2X), and three (3X) 4–8-cell stage embryos were aggregated by co-culturing them in aggregation plates followed by culturing to the blastocyst stage. After 7 days, the developmental ability and the number of cells in aggregated embryos were determined by staining with Hoechst 33342 and propidium iodide. The percentage of blastocysts was higher in both 2X and 3X aggregated embryos compared to that of 1X and that of intact controls (Table 1). The cell number of blastocysts also increased in aggregated embryos compared to that of non-aggregated (1X) embryos and controls. This result suggests that aggregation might improve the quality of in vitro-fertilized porcine blastocysts by increasing cell numbers, thus becoming a useful resource for isolation and establishment of porcine ES cells. Further studies are required to investigate the quality of the aggregated embryos in terms of increasing the pluripotent cell population by staining for Oct-4 and to apply improved aggregation methods in nuclear-transferred (NT) porcine embryos. Table 1. Development, cell number, and ICM ratio of aggregated porcine embryos


Blood ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 104 (11) ◽  
pp. 495-495
Author(s):  
Ryo Kurita ◽  
Erika Sasaki ◽  
Takashi Hiroyama ◽  
Tomoko Yokoo ◽  
Yukoh Nakazaki ◽  
...  

Abstract Since the successful establishment of human embryonic stem (ES) cell lines in 1998, transplantation of differentiated ES cells to specific organ has been expected to complete its defective function. For the realistic medicine, the preclinical studies using animal model systems including non-human primates are essential. We have already demonstrated that non-human primates of common marmosets (CM) are suitable for the laboratory animal models for preclinical studies of hematopoietic stem cell therapy. In this study, we investigated the in vitro and in vivo differentiation of CM ES cells to hematopoietic cells by exogenous gene transfer methods in order to study the feasibility of future gene modified ES cell therapy. First, we tried various in vitro culture conditions including systems using embryoid bodies or co-culturing with stromal cells to induce hematopoietic cells, but the frequency of inducing hematopoietic cells was very low. The expression of CD45 and gata1 could not be detected in both conditions, suggesting that our culture conditions were incomplete for induction of hematopoietic cells from CM ES cells. Next we examined gene transduction methods by using VSV-G pseudotyped human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) vectors. We constructed the HIV vectors containing hematopoietic genes such as tal1/scl, gata1, gata2, hoxB4 and Lh2 genes under the EF1a promoter and transduced them into CM ES cells. Only in the case of tal1/scl overexpression, not other genes, hematopoietic induction from CM ES cells was dramatically increased and multi-lineage blood cells consisting of erythroid cells, granulocytes, macrophages and megakaryocytes, were confirmed by immunochemical and morphological analyses. Furthermore, RT-PCR results showed that several hematopoietic marker genes including CD34 were expressed higher in the tal1/scl overexpressed ES-derived cells. After the xenotransplantation of ES-derived cells into the immunodeficient mice, CM CD45+ cells and immature erythroids and megakaryocytic cells were observed only in the ES-tal1-injected mice, indicating that enforced expression of tal1/scl into ES cells led to highly efficient hematopoietic cell differentiation in vivo. Taken together, it was suggested that the transduction of exogenous tal1/scl cDNA into ES cells by HIV vector was the promising method for the efficient differentiation from CM ES cells to hematopoietic stem cells. Further examinations are required to determine the long-term hematopoietic reconstitute capacity and the safety of the tal1/scl transduced ES cells in marmoset for the purpose of developing new hematopoietic stem cell therapy.


2009 ◽  
Vol 390 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Komal Loya ◽  
Reto Eggenschwiler ◽  
Kinarm Ko ◽  
Malte Sgodda ◽  
Francoise André ◽  
...  

Abstract In regenerative medicine pluripotent stem cells are considered to be a valuable self-renewing source for therapeutic cell transplantations, given that a functional organ-specific phenotype can be acquired by in vitro differentiation protocols. Furthermore, derivatives of pluripotent stem cells that mimic fetal progenitor stages could serve as an important tool to analyze organ development with in vitro approaches. Because of ethical issues regarding the generation of human embryonic stem (ES) cells, other sources for pluripotent stem cells are intensively studied. Like in less developed vertebrates, pluripotent stem cells can be generated from the female germline even in mammals, via parthenogenetic activation of oocytes. Recently, testis-derived pluripotent stem cells were derived from the male germline. Therefore, we compared two different hepatic differentiation approaches and analyzed the generation of definitive endoderm progenitor cells and their further maturation into a hepatic phenotype using murine parthenogenetic ES cells, germline-derived pluripotent stem cells, and ES cells. Applying quantitative RT-PCR, both germline-derived pluripotent cell lines show similar differentiation capabilities as normal murine ES cells and can be considered an alternative source for pluripotent stem cells in regenerative medicine.


1990 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolai Holst ◽  
Kjell Bertheussen ◽  
Finn Forsdahl ◽  
Mona Berger H�konsen ◽  
Lars Jul Hansen ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasiia Nemashkalo ◽  
Albert Ruzo ◽  
Idse Heemskerk ◽  
Aryeh Warmflash

AbstractParacrine signals maintain developmental states and create cell-fate patterns in vivo, and influence differentiation outcomes in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) in vitro. Systematic investigation of morphogen signaling is hampered by the difficulty of disentangling endogenous signaling from experimentally applied ligands. Here, we grow hESCs in micropatterned colonies of 1-8 cells (“μColonies”) to quantitatively investigate paracrine signaling and the response to external stimuli. We examine BMP4-mediated differentiation in μColonies and standard culture conditions and find that in μColonies, above a threshold concentration, BMP4 gives rise to only a single cell fate, contrary to its role as a morphogen in other developmental systems. Under standard culture conditions, BMP4 acts as morphogen, but this effect requires secondary signals and particular cell densities. We further find that a “community effect” enforces a common fate within μColonies both in the state of pluripotency and when cells are differentiated, and that this effect allows more precise response to external signals. Using live cell imaging to correlate signaling histories with cell fates, we demonstrate that interactions between neighbors result in sustained, homogenous signaling necessary for differentiation.Summary StatementWe quantitatively examined signaling and differentiation in hESC colonies of varying size treated with BMP4. We show that secondary signals result in morphogen and community effects that determine cell fates.


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