Development and Embryonic Stem Cells (Lectures 1,2,3) Flashcards
Stem cell definition
- capable of self-renewal through cell proliferation
- stem cells are an unspecialized cell type
- stem cells are capable of differentiating into a specialized cell type
(needs to make 200+ different types of cell types)
Cell proliferation
increase in number of cells due to cell growth and division
Ernst Haeckel
- first use of the term stem cell –> “stammzelle” (1868)
- – the fertilized egg that gives rise to the entire animal (the idea that all cells come from this one cell (pluripotent))
- the use of teratorcarcinomas (teratomas) contain undifferentiated cells called embryonal carcinoma (EC) cells –> EC cells are pluripotent with cancer forming properties
- – historically, this was the standard for which pluripotency was studied and allowed the development of culture conditions on ES cells
Development
- we all come from a single cell, the zygote
- fertilization –> zygote
- cleavage –> blastomeres
- totipotent morula
- blastocyst – pluripotent ICM + trophoblast
- rearrangement of blastocyst into primary germ layers (gastrulation) –> ectoderm + mesoderm + endoderm
- 10 trillion adult cells
Amphibian embryo development
- sperm enters animal pole
- sperm entry zone determines ventral part of embryo
- egg is polarized with yolk on bottom
- cleavage generates blastomeres
- blastula
- gastrulation begins at the blastopore
Primary germ layers
- inner layer –> endoderm
- middle layer –> mesoderm
- outer layer –> ectoderm
Totipotent
potential to give rise to complete organism including placental part that supports development (zygote)
Pluripotent
potential to give rise to all cell types found within the embryo (ES cells)
Multipotent
potential to give rise to multiple mature cell types (mesenchymal stem cell; haematopoeitic stem cell)
Unipotent
tissue-specific progenitors that replenish a single mature cell type
Ectoderm layer development
nervous system, skin
Mesoderm layer development
muscle, kidneys, heart
Endoderm layer development
gut, lungs, liver, intestine
Waddington landscape
- pluripotent cells lose developmental “plasticity” through the process of differentiation
- going down a mountain is easier than going up (but not impossible)
- – in each split in the trail, you lose potential
- trough for pluripotent cell is super shallow and each time you differentiate the trough gets deeper
Directed differentiation
telling the cells in a dish what to become
How do genetically identical cells become different cell types?
epigenetics