胚胎干细胞生物学特性及其应用前景

胚胎干细胞是来源于着床前的囊胚内细胞团或早期胎儿的原始生殖细胞的一类未分化的全能性多能性干细胞,具有无限增殖和全能分化的潜力。胚胎干细胞在发育生物学基础研究、动物胚胎工程研究生产和临床医学上具有诱人的应用前景。     

动物克隆技术的研究进展

胚胎发育过程是核质之间、细胞与细胞及细胞与胞外基质按严格的时空秩序相互作用的结果。从全能或多能胚胎干细胞分化为具有独特功能的体细胞,完全取决于基因在时间与地点上的选择性表达。对细胞分化和发育来说,最重要的不是个别基因的表达,而是整个基因网络在时间和空间上的紧密联系和配合。组成包括人体在内的高等动物机体的亿万个细胞,都是由一个受精卵发育而来的。像胚胎干细胞一样,分化了的体细胞仍然具有一整套完整的遗传信息。过去人们认为,细胞的分化程度越高,它指导早期胚胎发育成新个体的能力就越低,高度分化的体细胞甚至完全不具…     

影响鸡原始生殖细胞分离克隆因素的研究(简报)

具有多向分化潜能的胚胎干细胞有两种来源:一是来自于早期胚胎内细胞团的胚胎干细胞(Em-bryonic Stem Cells,ESCs),另一种是来自于胚胎生殖腺原始生殖细胞(Primordial Germ Cells,PGCs)的胚胎生殖细胞(Embryonic Germ Cells,EGCs)。     

影响鸡原始生殖细胞分离克隆因素的研究（简报）

具有多向分化潜能的胚胎干细胞有两种来源：一是来自于早期胚胎内细胞团的胚胎干细胞(Em．bryonic Stem Cells,ESCs),另一种是来自于胚胎生殖腺原始生殖细胞(Primordial Germ Cells,PGCs)的胚胎生殖细胞(Embryonic Germ Cells,EGCs)。     

你愿意捐献卵子吗？

胚胎干细胞研究是目前生命科学领域中最热门的研究领域之一。但是，胚胎干细胞的来源却非常有限，特别是人类的胚胎干细胞，绝大部分都源自体外人工授精后未使用的胚胎；少部分是应用克隆技术制造的胚胎干细胞。但是，无论哪种途径，都离不开卵细胞。因此，要想获得足够的胚胎干细胞，就要有足够的卵子。世界闻名的韩国科学家黄禹锡的科学弊案，就包括逼迫女下属提供卵子。 为了胚胎干细胞的研究，是否可以提倡人们捐献卵子，对此，社会各界争论很大。     

核移植胚胎干细胞的研究及其应用前景

随着核移植技术和干细胞技术的逐渐成熟,目前已获得牛、小鼠核移植胚胎干细胞,以及人 - 兔异种间核移植胚胎干细胞,这些细胞在体外可分化成多种细胞形态 . 已经进行的实验性动物克隆性治疗,显示了诱人的潜力,但人核移植胚胎干细胞研究还面临着许多问题,如建系效率低、卵母细胞来源有限以及伦理学和安全性问题等 . 长远地看,随着克隆效率的提高,在道德与法律之间达成共识,核移植胚胎干细胞必将造福人类 .     

核移植技术克隆动物胚胎研究的现状及展望

胚胎克隆,即建立胚胎的无性繁殖系,最有效的方法是通过用核移植技术将一枚多细胞胚胎的每一细胞核移植到一个去核的、激活的成熟卵母细胞中,重新构成新的胚胎,重组胚胎移植后,发育成与供体胚胎基因型相同的后代。Spemann 最先提出将多细胞胚的每一细胞核分别转移到去核的卵母细胞中这一想法。Brig-gs 和 King 沿用 Spemann 的想法及实验技术,     

Zfx基因与干细胞自我更新

干细胞具有自我更新保持不分化状态的特性,不同的干细胞具有不同的自我更新机制. Zfx基因(zinc fin ger-X gene)在部分胚胎干细胞和造血干细胞中高表达,该基因高表达有利于胚胎干细胞和造血干细胞自我更新; Zfx基因表达不足或缺乏的胚胎干细胞和造血干细胞自我更新的能力下降,细胞凋亡明显增加.在胚胎干细胞和造血干细胞中发现一些Zfx基因直接调控的靶基因,Zfx 基因可能是控制各种干细胞自我更新的共同的分子机制. Zfx基因表达不足不影响胚胎干细胞和造血干细胞的分化,缺乏 Zfx基因的胚胎干细胞和造血干细胞能够正常分化为各自的功能细胞.     

单倍体胚胎干细胞的获得与应用前景

单倍体细胞在遗传筛选、生物发育与辅助生殖等研究中都具有重要的应用价值。近年来,有实验室建立了哺乳动物的单倍体胚胎干细胞系,但这些单倍体胚胎干细胞是否真的具有多能性以及转基因的单倍体胚胎干细胞能否直接从细胞水平传递到动物水平,这些问题并不清楚。以自然科学基金委重大研究计划为依托,周琪实验室开展了系统的研究,获得了一系列前沿性进展:获得了具有多能性的单倍体胚胎干细胞;利用单倍体胚胎干细胞获得基因修饰动物;利用单倍体胚胎干细胞替代精、卵结合获得后代;利用单倍体胚胎干细胞进行同性生殖;利用单倍体胚胎干细胞研究物种间杂交。这一系列自主创新的研究成果推进了整个领域对单倍体胚胎干细胞的认识,大大拓展了单倍体胚胎干细胞研究的理论价值和应用前景。现主要对自然科学基金委重大研究计划中周琪实验室的原创性工作进行综述。     

胚胎干细胞周期调控的研究进展

胚胎干细胞（embryonic stem cells,Escs）具有自我复制和多潜能分化的特性。相对于体细胞,胚胎干细胞的细胞周期调控非常特别。比如,G1期较短;P53、RB等调控细胞周期“检验点”的蛋白分子功能“异常”等。胚胎干细胞细胞周期调控的研究对于研究胚胎干细胞的自我复制和多潜能性,都具有重要指导意义。该文将重点比较体细胞和胚胎干细胞在细胞周期调控方面的差异,并对近年来有关小鼠和人胚胎干细胞的细胞周期调控的研究进展进行介绍。     

植物细胞和器官大规模培养研究的进展

植物细胞,组织培养技术的发展,使得许多在实验室进行的研究已向工厂化生产过渡,除了植物细胞培养技术以外,近年来植物器官（茎,芽,根,胚和毛状根等）培养也得到迅速发展,建立了许多培养体系并在各种反应器中进行了探索性的培养实验,尤其毛状根培养越来越受到人们的瞩目,大规模培养技术的日趋完善,为植物生物技术的产业化发展带来巨大的动力。     

用多孔微载体大规模长期培养动物细胞的方法

长期大规模高密度动物细胞培养是生物制药产业中的关键技术,文中介绍了利用多孔微载体在中试规模生物反应器中长期大规模连续培养分泌尿激酶 原的DNA重组中国仓鼠卵巢细胞（rCHO)的方法。     

人胚胎干细胞的研究

来自着床前的囊胚和早期人胚胎的人胚胎干细胞是未分化的多能干细胞,具有无限增殖和分化的潜力,这种特性使之在基础研究和移植治疗中具有广泛的应用。尤其是胚胎干细胞可以产生任何类型的可供临床使用的细胞、组织和器官的潜力,将会带来一场医学革命。     

Challenges of primate embryonic stem cell research

Embryonic stem (ES) cells hold great promise for treating degenerative diseases, including diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, neural degeneration, and cardiomyopathies. This research is controversial to some because producing ES cells requires destroying embryos, which generally means human embryos. However, some of the surplus human embryos available from in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics may have a high rate of genetic errors and therefore would be unsuitable for ES cell research. Although gross chromosome errors can readily be detected in ES cells, other anomalies such as mitochondrial DNA defects may have gone unrecognized. An insurmountable problem is that there are no human ES cells derived from in vivo-produced embryos to provide normal comparative data. In contrast, some monkey ES cell lines have been produced using in vivo-generated, normal embryos obtained from fertile animals; these can represent a "gold standard" for primate ES cells. In this review, we argue a need for strong research programs using rhesus monkey ES cells, conducted in parallel with studies on human ES and adult stem cells, to derive the maximum information about the biology of normal stem cells and to produce technical protocols for their directed differentiation into safe and functional replacement cells, tissues, and organs. In contrast, ES cell research using only human cell lines is likely to be incomplete, which could hinder research progress, and delay or diminish the effective application of ES cell technology to the treatment of human diseases.     

维持胚胎干细胞多能性的分子机制

胚胎干细胞（ES细胞）来源于早期发育的胚胎,具有分化为任何细胞类型的多能性,因此具有巨大的基础研究及潜在的应用前景.目前认为ES细胞主要通过一些外源性信号分子的作用及某些重要的内源性转录因子的表达共同起作用来达到其维持多能性的目的.外源性信号分子LIF、BMP4以及Wnt等介导的信号传导通路与内源性转录因子Oct4、Nanog、Sox2、FoxD3等共同起作用来抑制那些促进ES细胞分化的基因表达和激活那些有助于维持ES细胞多能性维持的基因表达,进而形成一个相互调控和依存的基因调控网络共同维持ES细胞的多能性.     

胚胎干细胞向肝细胞诱导分化

胚胎干细胞具有分化成三胚层细胞的潜能。它已被视为治疗多种疾痛的一种新兴策略。在现阶段,通过不同的诱导途径可将胚胎干细胞诱导成为肝细胞：体外诱导、体内诱导以及体外和体内相结合诱导分化。然而从体内实验结果来看,其嵌合率及分化率不高,这是一个亟需解决的问题,否则就无法成功地将其应用于临床治疗。     

Extra-embryonic endoderm cells derived from ES cells induced by GATA Factors acquire the character of XEN cells

Background  

Three types of cell lines have been established from mouse blastocysts: embryonic stem (ES) cells, trophoblast stem (TS) cells, and extra-embryonic endoderm (XEN) cells, which have the potential to differentiate into their respective cognate lineages. ES cells can differentiate in vitro not only into somatic cell lineages but into extra-embryonic lineages, including trophectoderm and extra-embryonic endoderm (ExEn) as well. TS cells can be established from ES cells by the artificial repression of Oct3/4 or the upregulation of Cdx2 in the presence of FGF4 on feeder cells. The relationship between these embryo-derived XEN cells and ES cell-derived ExEn cell lines remains unclear, although we have previously reported that overexpression of Gata4 or Gata6 induces differentiation of mouse ES cells into extra-embryonic endoderm in vitro.     

Self-renewal vs. differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are typically derived from the inner cell mass of the preimplantation blastocyst and can both self-renew and differentiate into all the cells and tissues of the embryo. Because they are pluripotent, ES cells have been used extensively to analyze gene function in development via gene targeting. The embryonic stem cell is also an unsurpassed starting material to begin to understand a critical, largely inaccessible period of development. If their differentiation could be controlled, they would also be an important source of cells for transplantation to replace cells lost through disease or injury or to replace missing hormones or genes. Traditionally, ES cells have been differentiated in suspension culture as embryoid bodies, named because of their similarity to the early postimplantation-staged embryo. Unlike the pristine organization of the early embryo, differentiation in embryoid bodies appears to be largely unpatterned, although multiple cell types form. It has recently been possible to separate the desired cell types from differentiating ES cells in embryoid bodies by using cell-type-restricted promoters driving expression of either antibiotic resistance genes or fluorophores such as EGFP. In combination with growth factor exposure, highly differentiated cell types have successfully been derived from ES cells. Recent technological advances such as RNA interference to knock down gene expression in ES cells are also producing enriched populations of cells and elucidating gene function in early development.     

Challenges and prospects for the establishment of embryonic stem cell lines of domesticated ungulates

Embryonic stem (ES) cell lines provide an invaluable research tool for genetic engineering, developmental biology and disease models. These cells can be maintained indefinitely in culture and yet maintain competence to produce all the cells within a fetus. While mouse ES cell lines were first established over two decades ago and primate ES cells in the 1990 s, validated ES cell lines have yet to be established in ungulates. Why competent, pluripotent ES cells can be established from certain strains of mice and from primates, and not from cows, sheep, goats or pigs is an on-going topic of interest to animal reproduction scientists. The identification of appropriate stem cell markers, functional cytokine pathways, and key pluripotency-maintaining factors along with the release of more comprehensive bovine and porcine genomes, provide encouragement for establishment of ungulate ES cell lines in the near future.     

Embryonic stem cells and cell replacement therapies in the nervous system

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are pluripotential cells derived from the pre-implantation embryo. They can proliferate indefinitely in vitro while retaining pluripotency. ES cells can also be made to differentiate into a large variety of cell types in vitro. This has paved the way to research aimed at using ES-derived cells for cell replacement therapies. Hence, mouse ES cells can efficiently differentiate into neural precursors which can further generate functional neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. Methods have also been developed to coax mouse ES-derived neural stem cells to differentiate into either dopaminergic neurons or motoneurons. Mouse ES-derived neural stem cells, or their fully differentiated progeny, have been shown to survive, integrate, and to some extent, function following transplantation within appropriate rodent host tissue. Research on human ES cells is still in its infancy. Considerable work has to be done: (1) to master growth and genetic manipulation of human ES cells; (2) to master their differentiation into specific cell types; and (3) to demonstrate that they can provide long term therapeutical benefits upon grafting into damaged tissues in humans. From the ethical point of view, the establishment of appropriate primate model will be an obligatory prerequisite to clinical trials based on ES cells derivatives grafting.