人胚胎干细胞来源多巴胺前体细胞治疗帕金森病猴

帕金森病(Parkinson’s disease,PD)是一种常见于中老年人的神经系统退行性疾病,由中脑腹侧的多巴胺能(dopaminergic,DA)神经元缺失造成。这类疾病可通过移植由人胚胎干细胞(human embryonic stem cells,h ESC)或其他途径获得的多巴胺能神经元实现治疗。然而,在应用于临床之前,需要对这些多巴胺能神经元的安全性和有效性在合适的动物模型中进行充分、全面的评价。为评价由临床级人胚胎干细胞分化的多巴胺能神经元是否安全、有效,根据先导专项部署,我们建立了MPTP诱导的帕金森病猴模型,并将由人胚胎干细胞定向分化的多巴胺能神经元植入受损猴脑区。结果表明,在所有接受细胞移植的猴中,未发生移植细胞形成的肿瘤和继发肿瘤。移植细胞可分化为多巴胺能神经元并使局部多巴胺水平提高,带来不同程度的行为学改善。这些发现提示,多能干细胞分化的多巴胺能神经元移植治疗帕金森病安全、有效,可进一步应用于帕金森病的治疗。     

GDNF与IL-1β体外诱导小鼠中脑神经干细胞分化作用的实验研究

目的研究神经干细胞在体外向多巴胺能神经元分化的条件,为帕金森病的细胞移植治疗提供基础实验资料。方法体外培养扩增中脑神经干细胞,在有血清条件下分别予以GDNF,IL-1β及GDNF IL-1β诱导分化,TH免疫细胞化学鉴定分化结果,流式细胞术检测TH阳性神经元比例。结果有血清条件下GDNF,IL-1β及两者联合促进中脑神经干细胞分化为TH阳性神经元的比例分别为13.41%,9.23%,15.59%,明显高于对照组(约3.49%,P≤0.01),GD-NF及联合诱导组多巴胺能神经元形态更成熟。结论GDNF,IL-1β及两者联合可明显促进中脑神经干细胞分化为多巴胺能神经元。GDNF较IL-1β更能促进诱导的多巴胺能神经元的表型成熟。     

神经干细胞分离培养方法的介绍

在成体的许多组织中发现了多能干细胞,这些干细胞可以进行自我复制,参与组织的正常修复。神经干细胞在体外能分化为神经元、星形胶质细胞和少突胶质细胞,并具有多向分化潜能。成体神经干细胞和胚胎干细胞都能分化成成体神经系统中的各种神经细胞。神经干细胞具有自我更新能力,因此神经干细胞可以应用于神经损伤或者神经疾病的修复。本文概述了神经干细胞体外分离培养的方法及其生长影响因子。     

人胚胎干细胞向生殖细胞分化的研究进展

小鼠胚胎干细胞体外已成功诱导分化为配子细胞,人胚胎干细胞理论上也具备分化为生殖细胞的潜能。本文从影响人胚胎干细胞体外向生殖系分化的基因调控和干细胞小生境（niche）方面进行综述,并指出胚胎干细胞在生殖医学及不孕治疗中的研究方向和应用前景。     

表达神经营养因子Neurturin的骨髓间充质干细胞的构建及体外活性检测

研究神经营养因子Neurturin(NTN)在由于神经元损伤而造成的神经退行性疾病中对神经元的保护和修复作用。利用重组腺病毒载体将NTN基因转入恒河猴骨髓间充质干细胞(rMSC),通过RT-PCR、IF及Western blot方法检测NTN的转录和表达,并采用鸡胚背根神经节体外培养实验和胚胎大鼠中脑多巴胺能神经元存活实验对NTN进行体外活性检测。结果表明NTN在rMSC中稳定表达和分泌,并具有体外生物学活性,为由于神经元损伤造成的神经退行性疾病的干细胞移植治疗奠定了一定的基础。     

间充质干细胞体外分化为多巴胺能神经元的研究进展

骨髓间充质干细胞（MSCs）有来源广泛、易于分离培养、不易引起免疫排斥等特点,使其成为细胞治疗和基因治疗的种子细胞,具有广泛的科研和临床应用价值。骨髓MSCs具有多向分化潜能,在特定条件下能诱导分化成神经元甚至是更为特异的多巴胺能神经元,为帕金森病进行细胞移植疗法提供了理想的细胞来源。本文就近年来体外诱导MSCs向多巴胺能神经元定向分化所涉及到的常用诱导因素和诱导方法及途径予以综述。     

Wnt 3a在神经干细胞向多巴胺能神经元分化过程中作用的研究

Wnt信号在中枢神经系统发育过程中起重要的作用,控制着细胞的生长及分化.Wnt3a是Wnt家族的成员之一,对神经干细胞的增殖及分化有一定的调控作用.将重组Wnt3a腺病毒转入神经干细胞中,研究Wnt3a在定向诱导神经干细胞向多巴胺能神经元分化过程中的作用.将神经干细胞分为4组,对照组(不加任何诱导因子组)、抗坏血酸诱导组(AA组)、Wnt3a重组腺病毒诱导组(Wnt3a组)以及Wnt3a重组腺病毒加抗坏血酸诱导组(Wnt3a AA组).结果显示,Wnt3a组细胞中的多巴胺能神经元前体细胞特异性标志Nurr1表达量显著增多,Wnt3a AA组多巴胺能神经元明显多于AA组,酪氨酸羟化酶(TH)在mRNA水平上的表达是AA组的1.86倍.蛋白质印迹及免疫细胞化学染色显示,各诱导组均有TH的表达,Wnt3a组和AA组多巴胺能神经元阳性细胞数比例分别为(5.76±3.34)%和(37.42±2.54)%,与Wnt3a AA组(73.96±2.61)%比较,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05).利用高效液相色谱法检测到诱导后的细胞可分泌多巴胺.结果表明,Wnt3a可促进神经干细胞向多巴胺能神经元前体细胞分化,再通过抗坏血酸的诱导作用,在体外可获得大量的多巴胺能神经元,这些神经元有分泌多巴胺的功能.     

干细胞定向分化的基础和临床应用研究

胚胎干细胞具有多向性分化的潜能,可以分化成为内、中、外三个胚层的所有细胞,存在于组织器官中的成体干细胞（包括心脏等的前体细胞）也能分化成为某些细胞,用来修复、补充体内受损、死亡的细胞.目前干细胞研究的重点是：干细胞未分化和多向性机制的基础研究;干细胞向特定细胞群体分化的调控和分化细胞的应用研究,而后者是连接基础研究和临床研究的必经之路.干细胞的基础和临床应用研究不但可以了解正常的胚胎发育过程,而且利用掌握的知识通过体外诱导或体内激活的方法针对性地治疗某些疾病.目前我们的研究集中在神经细胞（包括视网膜细胞和内耳前体细胞）、脂肪细胞和心肌细胞定向分化的分子机理,并通过疾病动物模型验证这些定向分化的细胞的功能.希望通过建立人胚胎干细胞以及成体干细胞向外胚层的特种神经元（包括前脑神经上皮细胞、GABA和胆碱能神经元、视觉细胞、听觉细胞、多巴胺能神经元）和中胚层的脂肪细胞、骨细胞以及心肌细胞定向分化的模型,继而采用蛋白质组学和基因组学最新技术分析这些建立的模型,研究相关因子通过哪条信号传导通路导致这些细胞的定向分化或者通过改变哪个目的基因的表达,或改变目的蛋白的修饰导致干细胞定向成神经细胞、脂肪细胞和心肌细胞;研究成年脑内源性干细胞定向诱导成这些功能性神经元的机理,并进行比较研究.用Lentivirus转染干细胞高表达、或用RNA干扰抑制上述研究得到的目的基因,在细胞模型和动物体内验证这些信号通路和目的基因在干细胞定向分化中的作用.     

IL-1β和胎牛血清对大鼠神经干细胞分化的影响

在成年大鼠纹状体区分离神经干细胞,使用白介素－1β、神经生长因子、全反维甲酸和不同含量的胎牛血清作为诱导因子,通过免疫荧光化学方法和流式细胞仪检测细胞分化。结果表明胎牛血清有助于神经干细胞向星形胶质细胞和少突胶质细胞分化,IL－1β虽然对神经元数目没有明显影响,但对神经干细胞向多巴胺能神经元的分化却有明显促进作用。神经生长因子和全反维甲酸对神经干细胞向神经元、星形胶质细胞、少突胶质细胞和多巴胺能神经元的分化数量无明显影响。     

胚胎干细胞的体外诱导分化模型

胚胎干细胞是具有全能性及无限制的自我更新与分化能力的一类特殊的细胞群体 ,它能通过祖细胞为中介 ,分化为各种类型的体细胞 ,可重演体内干细胞的分化过程。自 80年代从小鼠囊胚的内细胞团分离到胚胎干细胞并建系到现在已建立了神经细胞、肌肉细胞、上皮细胞、造血细胞等体外分化体系。将胚胎干细胞体外分化成为可利用的分化模型 ,无论从组织结构、细胞及分子水平都体现了体内分化过程的体外重演 ,再加上胚胎干细胞系具有体系简单 ,影响因子少 ,可控制 ,便于研究等特点 ,因此可用于研究早期胚胎发育和细胞分化调控 ;可成为器官移植和修复…     

Efficient generation of midbrain and hindbrain neurons from mouse embryonic stem cells

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are clonal cell lines derived from the inner cell mass of the developing blastocyst that can proliferate extensively in vitro and are capable of adopting all the cell fates in a developing embryo. Clinical interest in the use of ES cells has been stimulated by studies showing that isolated human cells with ES properties from the inner cell mass or developing germ cells can provide a source of somatic precursors. Previous studies have defined in vitro conditions for promoting the development of specific somatic fates, specifically, hematopoietic, mesodermal, and neurectodermal. In this study, we present a method for obtaining dopaminergic (DA) and serotonergic neurons in high yield from mouse ES cells in vitro. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the ES cells can be obtained in unlimited numbers and that these neuron types are generated efficiently. We generated CNS progenitor populations from ES cells, expanded these cells and promoted their differentiation into dopaminergic and serotonergic neurons in the presence of mitogen and specific signaling molecules. The differentiation and maturation of neuronal cells was completed after mitogen withdrawal from the growth medium. This experimental system provides a powerful tool for analyzing the molecular mechanisms controlling the functions of these neurons in vitro and in vivo, and potentially for understanding and treating neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases.     

Neural precursors derived from human embryonic stem cells maintain long-term proliferation without losing the potential to differentiate into all three neural lineages, including dopaminergic neurons

Human embryonic stem (hES) cells have the ability to renew themselves and differentiate into multiple cell types upon exposure to appropriate signals. In particular, the ability of hES cells to differentiate into defined neural lineages, such as neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes, is fundamental to developing cell-based therapies for neurodegenerative disorders and studying developmental mechanisms. However, the utilization of hES cells for basic and applied research is hampered by the lack of well-defined methods to maintain their self-renewal and direct their differentiation. Recently we reported that neural precursor (NP) cells derived from mouse ES cells maintained their potential to differentiate into dopaminergic (DA) neurons after significant expansion in vitro . We hypothesized that NP cells derived from hES cells (hES-NP) could also undergo the same in vitro expansion and differentiation. To test this hypothesis, we passaged hES-NP cells and analyzed their proliferative and developmental properties. We found that hES-NP cells can proliferate approximately 380 000-fold after in vitro expansion for 12 weeks and maintain their potential to generate Tuj1⁺ neurons, GFAP⁺ astrocytes, and O4⁺ oligodendrocytes as well as tyrosine hydroxylase-positive (TH⁺) DA neurons. Furthermore, TH⁺ neurons originating from hES-NP cells expressed other midbrain DA markers, including Nurr1, Pitx3, Engrail-1, and aromatic l -amino acid decarboxylase, and released significant amounts of DA. In addition, hES-NP cells maintained their developmental potential through long-term storage (over 2 years) in liquid nitrogen and multiple freeze–thaw cycles. These results demonstrate that hES-NP cells have the ability to provide an expandable and unlimited human cell source that can develop into specific neuronal and glial subtypes.     

Mouse ES cell lines show a variable degree of chondrogenic differentiation in vitro

Pluripotent mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells differentiate in vitro spontaneously into cell types of all three primary germ layers when cultivated as cell aggregates, so-called 'embryoid bodies'. Many reports have shown that this system recapitulates cellular developmental processes and gene expression patterns of early embryogenesis. During ES cell differentiation, efficient and directed differentiation into a specific cell type is influenced by many parameters, for example, the batch of the serum used or the application of growth factors and signalling molecules. Because all ES cell lines are considered to be pluripotent, one should not expect remarkable differences regarding their spontaneous differentiation efficiencies. However, here we show that different ES cell lines exhibit a variable degree of spontaneous chondrogenic differentiation indicating that lines with a specific differentiation capacity could be selected. This is an important aspect if ES cells are applied for tissue regeneration.     

Neural differentiation of murine embryonic stem cells ES

Pluripotent murine embryonic stem (ES) cells can differentiate into all cell types both in vivo and in vitro. Based on their capability to proliferate and differentiate, these ES cells appear as a very promising tool for cell therapy. The understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the neural differentiation of the ES cells is a pre-requisite for selecting adequately the cells and conditions which will be able to correctly repair damaged brain and restore altered cognitive functions. Different methods allow obtaining neural cells from ES cells. Most of the techniques differentiate ES cells by treating embryoid bodies in order to keep an embryonic organization. More recent techniques, based on conditioned media, induce a direct differentiation of ES cells into neural cells, without going through the step of embryonic bodies. Beyond the fact that these techniques allow obtaining large numbers of neural precursors and more differentiated neural cells, these approaches also provide valuable information on the process of differentiation of ES cells into neural cells. Indeed, sequential studies of this process of differentiation have revealed that globally ES cells differentiating into neural cells in vitro recapitulate the molecular events governing the in vivo differentiation of neural cells. Altogether these data suggest that murine ES cells remain a highly valuable tool to obtain large amounts of precursor and differentiated neural cells as well as to get a better understanding of the mechanisms of neural differentiation, prior to a potential move towards the use of human ES cells in therapy.     

Dct::lacZ ES cells: a novel cellular model to study melanocyte determination and differentiation

Embryonic stem (ES) cells differentiate into various cell lineages in vitro. A procedure was previously designed to promote the differentiation of ES cells towards the melanocyte lineage and to obtain large and reproducible amounts of melanocytes. To elucidate the main events that lead to the development of melanocytes in vitro, we used transgenic Dct::lacZ mouse blastocysts to establish ES cell lines expressing the lacZ reporter gene under the control of the Dct promoter. Dct, a melanoblast marker, is expressed just after melanoblast determination in vivo. We evaluated the importance of recruitment, proliferation and differentiation during melanocyte ontogeny after the in vitro differentiation of Dct::lacZ ES cells into melanocytes. We showed that bFGF and cholera toxin induce precocious melanoblast determination, associated with early melanocyte differentiation. Edn3 induced melanoblast proliferation and long-term melanoblast recruitment, but not precocious determination. The lack of basic Fibroblast Growth Factor (bFGF) and cholera toxin can be partially compensated by Edn3. Thus, Dct::lacZ ES cells can be used as a model to study determination, proliferation and differentiation in the melanocyte lineage in vitro.     

Hepatic differentiation of murine embryonic stem cells.

Murine embryonic stem (ES) cells can replicate indefinitely in culture and can give rise to all tissues, including the germline, when reimplanted into a murine blastocyst. ES cells can also be differentiated in vitro into a wide range of cell types. We have utilized a liver-specific marker to demonstrate that murine ES cells can differentiate into hepatocytes in vitro. We have used ES cells carrying a gene trap vector insertion (I.114) into an ankyrin repeat-containing gene (Gtar) that we have previously shown provides an exclusive beta-galactosidase marker for the early differentiation of hepatocytes in vivo. beta-Galactosidase-positive cells were differentiated from I.114 ES cells in vitro. The identity of these cells was confirmed by the expression of the proteins alpha-fetoprotein, albumin, and transferrin and by the fact that they have an ultrastructural appearance consistent with that of embryonic hepatocytes. We propose that this model system of hepatic differentiation in vitro could be used to define factors that are involved in specification of the hepatocyte lineage. In addition, human ES cells have recently been derived and it has been proposed that they may provide a source of differentiated cell types for cell replacement therapies in the treatment of a variety of diseases.     

Production of hematopoietic cells from ES cells

Murine embryonic stem (ES) cells are cell lines established from blastocyst which can contribute to all adult tissues, including the germ-cell lineage, after reincorporation into the normal embryo. ES cell pluripotentiality is preserved in culture in the presence of LIF. LIF withdrawal induces ES cell differentiation to nervous, myocardial, endothelial and hematopoietic tissues. The model of murine ES cell hematopoietic differentiation is of major interest because ES cells are non transformed cell lines and the consequences of genomic manipulations of these cells are directly measurable on a hierarchy of synchronized in vitro ES cell-derived hematopoietic cell populations. These include the putative hemangioblast (which represents the emergence of both hematopoietic and endothelial tissues during development), myeloid progenitors and mature stages of myeloid lineages. Human ES cell lines have been recently derived from human blastocyst in the USA. Their manipulation in vitro should be authorized in France in a near future with the possibility of developing a model of human hematopoietic differentiation. This allows to envisage in the future the use of ES cells as a source of human hematopoietic cells.     

Derivation, propagation and differentiation of human embryonic stem cells

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are in vitro cultivated pluripotent cells derived from the inner cell mass (ICM) of the embryonic blastocyst. Attesting to their pluripotency, ES cells can be differentiated into representative derivatives of all three embryonic germ layers (endoderm, ectoderm and mesoderm) both in vitro and in vivo. Although mouse ES cells have been studied for many years, human ES cells have only more recently been derived and successfully propagated. Many biochemical differences and culture requirements between mouse and human ES cells have been described, yet despite these differences the study of murine ES cells has provided important insights into methodologies aimed at generating a greater and more in depth understanding of human ES cell biology. One common feature of both mouse and human ES cells is their capacity to undergo controlled differentiation into spheroid structures termed embryoid bodies (EBs). EBs recapitulate several aspects of early development, displaying regional-specific differentiation programs into derivatives of all three embryonic germ layers. For this reason, EB formation has been utilised as an initial step in a wide range of studies aimed at differentiating both mouse and human ES cells into a specific and desired cell type. Recent reports utilising specific growth factor combinations and cell-cell induction systems have provided alternative strategies for the directed differentiation of cells into a desired lineage. According to each one of these strategies, however, a relatively high cell lineage heterogeneity remains, necessitating subsequent purification steps including mechanical dissection, selective media or fluorescent or magnetic activated cell sorting (FACS and MACS, respectively). In the future, the ability to specifically direct differentiation of human ES cells at 100% efficiency into a desired lineage will allow us to fully explore the potential of these cells in the analysis of early human development, drug discovery, drug testing and repair of damaged or diseased tissues via transplantation.