中国大百科全书条目选:胚胎学

胚胎学研究动物个体发育过程中形态结构的变化,叙述怎样从一个受精卵发育成胚胎,从而了解各种动物发育的特点和规律的生物学分支学科。也可广义地理解为研究精子、卵子的发生、成熟和受精,以及受精卵怎样发育到成体的过程。     

心肌细胞发育过程中胞浆内钙稳态的调控

Ca^2＋信号是细胞和各器官生长发育、行使其生理功能的基础,维持心肌细胞的钙稳态是保持正常心脏功能的先决条件。作为在胚胎发育过程中最早出现并行使功能的器官,胚胎期心脏的形态结构发生了明显的变化,泵血功能不断增强,以适应不断增强的机体的生理需求。从胚胎到成年,心肌细胞的功能有非常大的改变,各钙离子通道的表达也发生明显变化。因此,发育早期心肌细胞的钙稳态调控与成熟心肌细胞有明显的不同,在发育过程中引起细胞收缩的Ca^2＋来源也有明显的变化。随着分子和细胞生物学研究的发展,以及胚胎干细胞体外分化模型的应用,人们对心肌细胞发育过程中钙稳态的调控有了进一步的认识。本文综述了早期心肌细胞发育过程中胞浆内钙稳态的变化,总结了早期心肌细胞钙稳态调控机制的最新研究进展。     

肿瘤细胞的生物学特征

肿瘤(tumor)是威胁人类生命最严重的疾病之一,也是现代医学中最大的难题之一。近几年来经过科学家们不懈的努力,取得了可喜的成绩,特别是致癌基因(oncogene)的发现,对癌的发病机理的认识有一个突破性的进展,但彻底解决癌的问题还有很大的距离。不过人们认识到癌从根本上来说是一个生物学问题。肿瘤的最终解决,还要从生物学,特别是从细胞生物学和分子生物学的角度着手,从正常细胞在什么样的条件下(环境因子、遗传因子、二者的共同作用)转化成肿瘤细胞中寻找控制和解决肿瘤的途径。目前,许多科学工作者从正常细     

核移植技术研究进展

核移植(nuelear transplation,NT)是将动物早期胚胎或体细胞的细胞核移植到去核的受精卵或成熟卵母细胞中、重新构建新的胚胎,使重构胚发育为与供核细胞基因型相同后代的技术过程,又称动物克隆技术。广义的胚胎克隆技术还包括胚胎分割和卵裂球培养,通常所指的胚胎克隆技术是指狭义概念,即核移植技术。1938年Spmann在所有胚胎细胞都具有与受精卵完全相同、拥有潜在发育全能性的细胞核基础上提出了细胞核移植的概念[‘1。早期核移植实验是在变形虫、蛙、爪蟾、非洲爪蛙等两栖类和鱼类上进行的核质关系研究〔“一“〕,随着胚胎技术的不断进步…     

《从卵到胚胎》

《从卵到胚胎》(From egg to embryo)第二版,山J. M. W. Slack著,1991年剑桥大学出版社出版,328页。最近十年,我们对动物早期发育的认识已有了巨大变化,该书叙述了这种变化,解释了胚胎怎样从受精卵发育而成。该书开始讨论了胚胎概念,提供了新的参考词汇,接着用简单术语,解释了细胞状态机制、成形基因梯度、阀反应。对爪蛙、软体动物、环节动物、海鞘等区域性发育细节提出实     

胚胎植入与肿瘤浸润转移的相似性

胚胎植入依赖于胚胎滋养层细胞对子宫内膜的侵入,其过程与肿瘤细胞的浸润转移极为相似;（１）它们具有相似的基质侵入行为,并用同种蛋白水解酶降解类似的细胞外基质结构;（２）生长因子对这两种细胞可能具有相似的调节作用;（３）胚胎滋养层细胞和肿瘤细胞的免疫学特性类似,并可能具有共同的免疫逃脱机制,胚胎植入和肿瘤浸润的相似性提示,学科间的交叉,渗透和相互借鉴对生物学基础理论的研究具有重要意义。     

哺乳动物早期胚胎发育中表观遗传信息的传递和重编程

高度特化的精子和卵子如何重编程形成全能性的受精卵?受精卵又是如何通过时空有序的分裂和分化形成各种细胞谱系,进而发育成一个完整的个体?这些问题是生殖生物学、发育生物学乃至整个生命科学领域基本和关键的科学问题。近年来,随着技术的进步和研究的深入,人们可以从全基因组水平以前所未有的广度、深度和精度窥探这一过程中重要的分子事件。研究发现, DNA的微环境染色质及其所携带的表观遗传信息在这些过程中发生了剧烈的重编程,以完成亲代到子代的转换。DNA甲基化、组蛋白修饰、染色质开放程度以及染色质高级结构等表观遗传信息在配子发生和早期胚胎发育过程中经历了广泛的建立、擦除以及重建过程。同时,部分表观遗传信息可以从亲代传递到子代。该文总结了近年来在哺乳动物早期胚胎发育中表观遗传信息的传递和重编程方面取得的研究进展,同时阐述了表观遗传信息传递和重编程的潜在机制和生物学意义。     

体细胞胚

胚由受精卵发育而来,这在生物学中是大家所熟知的,但实际上胚不一定从受精卵发育来,尤其在植物界,往往可以看到未受精的卵细胞或胚囊细胞、珠心细胞等发育成胚的现象。严格地说,除卵以外的胚囊细胞和珠心细胞等都应属于体细胞的范畴,由体细胞发育成的胚就叫做体细胞胚。可见体细胞胚在自然界中早已存在,不过用人工培养的方法诱导营养器官产生胚,却是在二十多年前首次出现的新事物。     

蛋白激酶AKT 不同亚型影响乳腺癌恶性表型的研究进展

细胞的增殖、转移、存活等细胞生物学过程的异常对人类众多疾病尤其是恶性肿瘤的发生发展至关重要。大量研究表明,PI3K/AKT信号通路的异常激活在肿瘤的恶性转化过程中发挥重要作用并具有普遍意义。但是,目前的研究多集中于探讨AKT总的激酶活性,而往往忽视了AKT不同亚型的特异性功能。近年来在乳腺癌中的研究发现,AKT家族不同亚型的激酶分子在调控肿瘤细胞的存活、生长、增殖、代谢、转移等众多恶性表型方面发挥独特而关键的作用:与Akt1促进肿瘤细胞增殖、抑制肿瘤细胞转移的作用相反,Akt2在促进肿瘤细胞转移、抑制肿瘤细胞增殖方面发挥重要功能;此外,随着对AKT家族研究的深入,人们对Akt3的特异性生物学功能也有了新的认识。本文在此对AKT不同亚型与乳腺癌恶性表型之间关系的研究进展做一总结。     

小鼠胚胎体外培养方法的优化及胚胎质量评估

实验采用输卵管收集获得的 2 细胞、原核受精卵和体外受精得到的胚胎。 2 细胞胚胎在所有培养浓度下均达到较高的囊胚发育率 ,而ISF和IVF受精卵在减低培养浓度后发育率显著降低 (p <0 .0 1 ) ,ISF受精卵从高密度 (1 /μl)下约 82 .5 %的发育率到低密度 (1 /1 0 0 0 μl)下 2 2 .3 %的发育率。而IVF胚胎的这两个值分别为 46 .3 %和5 .2 %。2 细胞胚胎与其他两种受精卵相比 ,每个囊胚所含的细胞数目差异显著 (p <0 .0 1 )。添加 1ng/ml(1 /1 0 μl)和 1 0ng/ml(1 /1 0 0 μl)的PAF显著增加了IVF胚胎的囊胚发育率 (p <0 .0 1 )。在胚胎密度为 1 /1 0 μl的培养密度下 ,添加 1 0ng/ml以上的IGF Ⅰ同样改善IVF受精卵的发育能力 (p <0 .0 1 )。培养液中添加EGF对囊胚的发育率没有影响。PAF和IGF Ⅰ协同作用的效果与IGF Ⅰ单独处理的结果并无差异 (p >0 .0 5) ,但高于PAF单独处理组 (p <0 .0 5)。结果表明 ,胚胎生长所需的生长因子在低密度培养条件下被稀释并影响胚胎的正常发育。PAF和IGF Ⅰ作为自分泌性胚胎营养因子在一定程度上补偿了由于低密度培养所带来的负效应。     

Xenografts in zebrafish embryos as a rapid functional assay for breast cancer stem-like cell identification

The cancer stem cell is defined by its capacity to self-renew, the potential to differentiate into all cells of the tumor and the ability to proliferate and drive the expansion of the tumor. Thus, targeting these cells may provide novel anti-cancer treatment strategies. Breast cancer stem cells have been isolated according to surface marker expression, ability to efflux fluorescent dyes, increased activity of aldehyde dehydrogenase or the capacity to form spheres in non-adherent culture conditions. In order to test novel drugs directed towards modulating self-renewal of cancer stem cells, rapid, easy and inexpensive assays must be developed. Using 2 days-post-fertilization (dpf) zebrafish embryos as transplant recipients, we show that cells grown in mammospheres from breast carcinoma cell lines migrate to the tail of the embryo and form masses with a significantly higher frequency than parental monolayer populations. When stem-like self-renewal was targeted in the parental population by the use of the dietary supplement curcumin, cell migration and mass formation were reduced, indicating that these effects were associated with stem-like cell content. This is a proof of principle report that proposes a rapid and inexpensive assay to target in vivo cancer stem-like cells, which may be used to unravel basic cancer stem cell biology and for drug screening.     

The relationship between early embryo development and tumourigenesis

With the recent substantial progress in developmental biology and cancer biology, the similarities between early embryo development and tumourigenesis, as well as the important interaction between tumours and embryos become better appreciated. In this paper, we review in detail the embryonic origin of tumour, and the similarities between early embryo development and tumourigenesis with respect to cell invasive behaviours, epigenetic regulation, gene expression, protein profiling and other important biological behaviours. Given an improved understanding of the relationship between early embryo development and tumourigenesis, now we have better and broader resources to attack cancer from the perspective of developmental biology and develop next generation of prognostic and therapeutic approaches for this devastating disease.     

Invasiveness of mouse embryos to human ovarian cancer cells HO8910PM and the role of MMP-9

ABSTRACT: Background Our previous work found that mouse embryos could invade malignant cancer cells. In the process of implantation, embryo trophoblast cells express matrix metalloproteinases and the invasive ability of trophoblast cells is proportional to matrix metalloproteinase-9 protein expression. So the purpose of this study is to observe the effects of mouse embryos on human ovarian cancer cells in the co-culture environment in vitro and explore the possible mechanism of matrix metalloproteinase-9. Methods Several groups of human ovarian cancer cells HO8910PM were co-cultured with mouse embryos for different time duration, after which the effects of mouse embryos on morphology and growth behavior of HO8910PM were observed under the light microscope real-time or by H.E staining. Apoptosis was detected under laser confocal microscope by Annexin V-EGFP/PI staining in situ. Invasion ability of tumor cells was studied by transwell experiments. After matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP -9) activity was inhibited by MMP-9 Inhibitor I, the interaction between mouse embryos and human ovarian cancer cells HO8910PM was observed. Results Mouse embryos were able to invade co-cultured human ovarian cancer cell layer which extended in the bottom of the culture dish, and gradually pushed away tumor cells to form their own growth space. The number of apoptosis tumor cells surrounding the embryo increased under laser confocal microscope. After co-cultured with mouse embryos, tumor cells invasive ability was lowered compared with the control group. After MMP-9 activity was inhibited, the interaction between mouse embryos and HO8910PM cells had no significant difference compared with the normal MMP-9 activity group. Conclusion Mouse embryos were able to invade human ovarian cancer cells in vitro and form their own growth space, promote apoptosis of human ovarian cancer cells and lower their invasive ability. The mouse embryo was still able to invade human ovarian cancer cells after MMP-9 activity was inhibited.     

Harnessing the apoptotic programs in cancer stem‐like cells

Elimination of malignant cells is an unmet challenge for most human cancer types even with therapies targeting specific driver mutations. Therefore, a multi‐pronged strategy to alter cancer cell biology on multiple levels is increasingly recognized as essential for cancer cure. One such aspect of cancer cell biology is the relative apoptosis resistance of tumor‐initiating cells. Here, we provide an overview of the mechanisms affecting the apoptotic process in tumor cells emphasizing the differences in the tumor‐initiating or stem‐like cells of cancer. Further, we summarize efforts to exploit these differences to design therapies targeting that important cancer cell population.     

Cancer metastasis facilitated by developmental pathways: Sonic hedgehog, Notch, and bone morphogenic proteins

This review will highlight the significance of three critical pathways in developmental biology and our emerging understanding of their roles in regulating tumor metastasis: Bone morphogenic protein (BMP), Notch and Sonic hedgehog (SHH). We will discuss parallels between their known roles in development and how these processes can be used by tumor cells to create microenvironments that enhance tumor metastasis. That tumor cells usurp pathways critical to the developing embryo is not surprising, as many of the normal developmental programs include processes that are also seen during tumor progression to a metastatic phenotype, including epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), tissue specific morphogenesis, cellular motility and invasion. BMPs are involved in EMT, contribute to tissue specific morphogenesis, and are expressed in highly-metastatic tumor cells. BMPs have also been hypothesized to have a role in the establishment of a pre-neoplastic niche. Notch and SHH facilitate neovascularization, angiogenesis, EMT and can contribute to the maintenance of highly-metastatic tumor stem cells.     

Chick Chorioallantoic Membrane Assay: A 3D Animal Model for Study of Human Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a highly invasive and metastatic head and neck cancer. However, mechanistic study of the invasion and metastasis of NPC has been hampered by the lack of proper in vivo models. We established an in vivo chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) model to study NPC tumor biology. We found 100% micro-tumor formation 3 days after inoculation with NPC cell lines (4/4) or primary tumor biopsy tissue (35/35). The transplanted NPC micro-tumors grew on CAMs with extracellular matrix interaction and induced angiogenesis. In addition, the CAM model could be used to study the growth of transplanted NPC tumors and also several important steps of metastasis, including tumor invasion by detecting the extent of basement membrane penetration, tumor angiogenesis by analyzing the area of neo-vessels, and tumor metastasis by quantifying tumor cells in distant organs. We established and described a feasible, easy-to-manipulate and reliable CAM model for in vivo study of NPC tumor biology. This model closely simulates the clinical features of NPC growth, progression and metastasis and could help elucidate the biological mechanisms of the growth pattern and invasion of NPC cells and in quantitative assessment of angiogenesis and cell intravasation.     

自噬与肿瘤关系的研究与进展

自噬是一个高度发达而且十分保守的生物学分解代谢过程。自噬与肿瘤的关系十分密切,在肿瘤发生发展的过程中,自噬活性的改变却是一把双刃剑。自噬,它既能够使肿瘤细胞耐受不同的应激条件而使其获得更好的生存,也可以通过各种信号途径减轻许多不良应激条件下的细胞损伤,如慢性炎症、慢性细胞死亡及基因组损伤等,从而而减少肿瘤的发生。再者,一方面,某些肿瘤的发生和发展过程中也同样依赖于自噬,并且肿瘤细胞可以利用自噬来对抗抗癌药物的一定的细胞毒性。而另一方面,有些癌症却需要利用自噬的作用来杀死肿瘤细胞。虽然自噬与肿瘤的关系是十分复杂的,也存在不少的分歧,但总的来说自噬在癌症中的作用是至关重要的。结合近年来国内外研究的发展,我们这篇综述重点讨论的是自噬在癌症中的作用,并且探讨其潜在的作用机制,以及目前自噬在癌症治疗中的应用。     

Pathways of O-glycan biosynthesis in cancer cells

Glycoproteins with O-glycosidically linked carbohydrate chains of complex structures and functions are found in secretions and on the cell surfaces of cancer cells. The structures of O-glycans are often unusual or abnormal in cancer, and greatly contribute to the phenotype and biology of cancer cells. Some of the mechanisms of changes in O-glycosylation pathways have been determined in cancer model systems. However, O-glycan biosynthesis is a complex process that is still poorly understood. The glycosyltransferases and sulfotransferases that synthesize O-glycans appear to exist as families of related enzymes of which individual members are expressed in a tissue- and growth-specific fashion. Studies of their regulation in cancer may reveal the connection between cancerous transformation and glycosylation which may help to understand and control the abnormal biology of tumor cells. Cancer diagnosis may be based on the appearance of certain glycosylated epitopes, and therapeutic avenues have been designed to attack cancer cells via their glycans.     

Zebrafish embryo as a tool to study tumor/endothelial cell cross-talk

Tumor/endothelial cell cross-talk plays a pivotal role in the growth, neovascularization and metastatic dissemination of human cancer. Recent observations have shown that the teleost zebrafish (Danio rerio) may represent a powerful experimental platform in cancer research. Various tumor models have been established in zebrafish adults, juveniles, and embryos and novel genetic tools and high resolution in vivo imaging techniques have been exploited. In particular, grafting of mammalian tumor cells in zebrafish embryo body may simulate early stages of tumor development, neovascularization, and local invasion whereas the injection of cancer cells in the bloodstream of zebrafish embryo may allow the study of metastatic homing and colonization. This review focuses on the recent advances in tumor xenotransplantation in zebrafish embryo for the in vivo study of the cancer neovascularization, invasion and metastatic processes. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Animal Models of Disease.