8. ES and iPS cells Flashcards
where are ES cells derived from?
inner cell mass of blastocyst
what type of potency are ESC?
pluripotent
what can ESC give rise to?
all embryonic tissue and generate chimeric mice
what type of cells can proliferate indefinitely if kept in undifferentiated conditions?
ESC
what problem did the people that were trying to isolate SC that would not just exist transiently during development come across? and so what was a lot of effort put into?
- cells in culture started to differentiate
- a lot of effort was put into figuring out how to keep them pluripotent in culture
when did the first paper that was able to culture pluripotent mouse cells get published?
1981
what did this paper that managed to culture pluripotent mouse cells show?
> if you took cells from the inner cell mass of blastocysts, you could culture these for some time, and if injected into mice can form teratocarcinomas
they also showed that if you embryoid bodies could be formed from these cells are but back into blastocysts to generate mice
what are teratocarcinomas?
tumours that contain all three germ layers
in order to keep cells pluripotent in culture, cells were kept on what for a long time before better methods were established? and what is done now?
feeder cells
> now we know specific factors what can just be added to the stem cell media
what were ES cells initially called?
embryonic carcinoma cells
what did the next paper in 1982 establish?
the gold standard assays for pluripotent cells
> so that you could prove that the cells you have are really ES cells
what are the three golden assays required to show pluripotency?
in vitro differentiation (multiple lineages)
teratoma formation
chimeric mice
how are chimeric mice formed and describe their tissues?
> this is when the blastocyst of one mouse is injected with ESC of another mouse to form a chimeric mouse
every single tissue in the chimeric mouse is a mixture of the two mice it originated from, this is very evident in the skin and hair follicles
when were the first human ESC isolated and by who? and what did he show?
1998
James Thompson
he showed that they could differentiate into multiple different lineages in vitro
what did the discovery of ESC allow?
genetic modification and the formation of transgenic mice
> it was not possible to do this up until this point
what was done for the first time in 1989?
homologous recombination was used for gene targeting in ES cells
what was the nobel prize in 2007 for?
principle for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells
if we understand more about why we are able to culture ESC for long period of time, what may this allow us to do?
be able to culture somatic stem cells in culture for longer
not all ESC are the same, what does this mean that we need to do?
use multiple ESC derived from different places (e.g. different animals) in order to validate out findings, and confirm findings are universal to all ESC and not species specific
what do feeder cells/culture serum provide to mice ESC? and what does it do?
Lif
this is a growth factor that maintains self-renewal
what happens when Lif is withdraw from the culture medium?
ESC start to differentiate
what does activation by LIF stimulate in cells? and what is this important for?
the activation of STAT3
this is very important to maintain self-renewal
what can we give to cells instead of LIF and why is this beneficial?
a chemical mimic instead of the entire proteins
> if we want to be able to maintain these cells in culture for regernate medicine purposes, giving them proteins derived from other cells risks cells contamination
> chemicals can be produced in a reactor with no potential contamination
name three TFs that are important in ESCs, and what is known about these in vivo?
- oct3/4
- nanog
- stat3
> these antagonise each other to mediate the progression of embryonic development
what does the blastocysts develop from?
the morula
what are the two components of the blastocyst?
trophectoderm and ICM
what is the trophectoderm?
the external part of the embryo which gives rise to the extra-embryonic tissues
what role Oct3/4 play in early development?
it promotes the development of the inner cell mass and antagonises the development of trophectoderm
what is very important to add to ESC in culture and why?
Oct3/4 as it blocks the formation of trophectoderm
what is the function of nanog in early development?
Nanog mediates the transition of ICM to epiblast and blocks the transition in primitive endoderm
what does nanog do in culture?
promotes self-renewal and blocks differentiation
when was John Gurdon’s paper published?
1962