Stella基因真核表达载体的构建及其对小鼠胚胎干细胞多能性的影响

构建Stella基因真核表达质粒,转染小鼠胚胎干细胞(Embryonic stem cells,ESC)并初步探讨Stella对减数分裂起始相关基因(Stra8)及胚胎干细胞多能性的影响。通过RT-PCR扩增目的基因,并连接至真核表达载体pEGFP-C1,利用重组质粒转染小鼠胚胎干细胞。对转染细胞进行荧光检测,确认Stella的表达,并利用免疫荧光及PCR检测转染细胞基因表达情况。酶切鉴定及测序分析表明成功构建含Stella基因的重组真核表达质粒,过表达Stella对ES细胞的增殖和形态学特征、进入减数分裂阶段的相关基因及其多能性基因的表达影响并不显著。故此得出结论:Stella在小鼠胚胎干细胞中能够正确表达,但对ES细胞的分化、Stra8基因的表达及其多能性基因的表达并无显著影响。     

bFGF浓度对oESC-like增值、凋亡、多能性相关基因表达的影响

使用免疫荧光技术检测与增值、凋亡、多能性相关基因的表达水平。提高bFGF浓度可增强PCNA、Oct-4、Sox-2、Bax和Bcl-2的表达,同时使Bcl-2/Bax比值维持较稳定水平。结果表明提高bFGF浓度可增强oESC-like的增值能力和多能性,增强其抗凋亡能力以适应长期培养。     

多能性胚胎干细胞与DNA甲基化的关系

胚胎干细胞是一种能够维持自我更新、具有无限扩增能力的多能性干细胞。灵长类多能干细胞（iPSCs）根据其发育能力、细胞形态、基因表达谱以及表观遗传学的差异分为初始态多能干细胞（pPSCs）和原始态多能干细胞（nPSCs）。nPSCs因其容易进行基因工程处理以及体内外再生出功能组织器官等优势而在临床潜在应用上备受关注,因而有效维持ESCs的原始状态对其用于基础及临床研究具有重要意义。nPSCs的线粒体活性和自我更新能力高于pPSCs,且这两种多能性干细胞在DNA甲基化等方面都存在明显差别,DNA甲基化在nPSCs的转化及代谢中起到重要的作用。本文综述了DNA甲基化对ESCs的作用,特别是维持原始态的作用。     

获得多能性干细胞的方法

胚胎干细胞系的获得为细胞和器官损伤及病变的治疗提供了新的途径,但是治疗用细胞和受体病人之间免疫不相容问题妨碍了干细胞临床应用.近年来对分化细胞重编程研究使研究人员可以获得多能性干细胞,这为解决这一难题带来了新的希望.对获得多能性干细胞所涉及的机制以及方法进行了综述.     

利用化学小分子实现人胚胎干细胞多能性状态的转化

小鼠胚胎干细胞（Embryonic Stem Cells,ESCs）具有两种不同的多能性状态-原始态多能性（naive pluripotency）和始发态多能性（primed pluripotency）,这两种多能性干细胞在形态、自我更新维持条件、基因表达、表观遗传学特征以及单克隆形成率等方面都存在明显差别。传统条件下分离和培养的人胚胎干细胞（human Embryonic Stem Cells,h ESCs）生物学特征更接近始发态多能性状态,需依赖转基因操作才能获得和维持原始态多能性状态。本研究通过在培养体系中添加化学小分子成功地将已建系的始发态多能性h ESCs转化为原始态多能性干细胞,转化后h ESCs呈紧密、圆形、隆起的三维克隆结构,具有两条活化的X染色体,单克隆形成率提高,基因表达更接近原始态多能性特征。结果提示h ESCs也存在两种多能性状态,不同的体外培养环境可获得具备不同多能性特征的h ESCs。原始态多能性状态的获得使h ESCs在基因治疗、器官再生等领域具有广阔的应用前景,而仅改变培养条件,不依赖基因操作的培养方式大大提高了原始态多能性干细胞应用的安全性。     

长期培养小鼠胚胎干细胞拟胚体(EB)的观察

胚胎干细胞在体外培养条件下能够维持自我更新,并具有向多种细胞类型分化的能力,因此被广泛用于研究细胞分化的分子机理以及药物筛选.形成拟胚体(Embryoid body,EB)是胚胎干细胞分化常用的技术手段.为了便于今后利用EB做进一步的药物筛选及分化研究,严格规范了形成EB的条件,得到了分化状态均一性很高的EB.利用这一条件,观察到在分化条件下长期培养(长达60 d)的EB中仍有表达各项多能性指标的细胞集落.有关这一现象的进一步分析工作正在进行中.     

人类及小鼠胚胎干细胞的不同多能性状态

胚胎干细胞(embryonic stem cells,ESCs)是来源于早期胚胎的全能性细胞,在合适条件下具有分化为任何一类成体细胞的潜力。在小鼠中,根据细胞来源的胚胎发育时间,ESCs可以被分为原始态多能性(na(?)ve pluripotency)和始发态多能性(primed pluripotency)两种状态。这两种状态的细胞在发育上相互联系,具有不同的形态、信号依赖、发育性质、基因表达及表观遗传学性质,并且在特定的条件下可以相互转化。人类胚胎干细胞(human embryonic stem cells,hESCs)的发育潜能曾一度被认为低于小鼠胚胎干细胞(mouse embryonic stem cells,mESCs),直到人类原始态胚胎干细胞的发现证明了hESCs可以表现出与mESCs相似的性质。这对于人类胚胎发育的研究及ESCs在临床治疗上的实际应用都具有重要的意义。     

小鼠胚胎干细胞与四倍体胚胎的嵌合

The oviducts of superovulated Kunming white females were flushed 44-46 hours after treatment with human chorionic gonadotropin to collect 1074 late two-cell-stage embryos.The embryos were placed twenty at a time between two platinum electrodes laid 1 mm apart in 0.3M mannitol in the electrode chamber.The blastomeres were fused by a short electric pulse(80V for 50μsec) applied by a pulse generator.Fusion of blastomeres was usually completed in 20-60minutes.After 25 hours of culture,most of the tetraploid embryos developed to the four-cell stage.Zonae pellucidae of 387 four-cell-stage tetraploid embryos were removed by treatment with acid Tyrode‘s buffer.The embryos were plated on an ES cell layer,After 40 hours of coculture,248 embryos aggregated with ES cells were collected and transferred into the uteri of twenty four 2.5-day pseudopregnant recipinets.Ten recipients were pregnant.but no live fetuses were born.Three pregnant recipients were routinely subject to a Caesarean section on day 18 of pregnancy and seven abnormal fetuses were obtained.The results demonstrate that ES cells derived from C57BL/6 mice are pluripotential to a certain extent.     

家畜胚胎干细胞多能性候选信号通路及分子标志

家畜胚胎干细胞具有重要的生物学意义和广阔的应用前景。以下对比了小鼠、人胚胎干细胞多能性调控信号通路的异同,阐述了小鼠、人胚胎干细胞与家畜胚胎干细胞在多能性分子标志上的差异,并结合本实验室开展绵羊胚胎干细胞研究的实际经验,对目前家畜胚胎干细胞建系中可能存在的多能性候选信号通路及分子标志进行了探讨。     

猪多能性干细胞研究进展与前瞻北大核心CSCD

多能干细胞具有能够分化为多种特定细胞类型的能力,主要包括胚胎干细胞、胚胎生殖细胞和诱导多能干细胞。猪因其在免疫学、形态学和生理结构上与人有着诸多类似的特点,正逐渐成为人类异种移植、细胞治疗和再生医学研究的理想生物学模型。然而,目前对猪多能干细胞的来源、特征及机制认识的不足直接阻碍了该研究领域的发展。因此,将对猪多能性干细胞的种类、鉴定标准、研究进展、亟待解决的问题进行详细地阐述,并在此基础上对猪多能性干细胞的研究进行了展望,希望为该研究领域的科研人员提供参考。     

nAChRs Mediate Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Endothelial Cells: Proliferation,Apoptosis, and Angiogenesis

Background

Many patients with ischemic heart disease have cardiovascular risk factors such as cigarette smoking. We tested the effect of nicotine (a key component of cigarette smoking) on the therapeutic effects of human embryonic stem cell-derived endothelial cells (hESC-ECs).

Methods and Results

To induce endothelial cell differentiation, undifferentiated hESCs (H9 line) underwent 4-day floating EB formation and 8-day outgrowth differentiation in EGM-2 media. After 12 days, CD31⁺ cells (13.7±2.5%) were sorted by FACScan and maintained in EGM-2 media for further differentiation. After isolation, these hESC-ECs expressed endothelial specific markers such as vWF (96.3±1.4%), CD31 (97.2±2.5%), and VE-cadherin (93.7±2.8%), form vascular-like channels, and incorporated DiI-labeled acetylated low-density lipoprotein (DiI-Ac-LDL). Afterward, 5×10⁶ hESC-ECs treated for 24 hours with nicotine (10⁻⁸ M) or PBS (as control) were injected into the hearts of mice undergoing LAD ligation followed by administration for two weeks of vehicle or nicotine (100 µg/ml) in the drinking water. Surprisingly, bioluminescence imaging (BLI) showed significant improvement in the survival of transplanted hESC-ECs in the nicotine treated group at 6 weeks. Postmortem analysis confirmed increased presence of small capillaries in the infarcted zones. Finally, in vitro mechanistic analysis suggests activation of the MAPK and Akt pathways following activation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs).

Conclusions

This study shows for the first time that short-term systemic administrations of low dose nicotine can improve the survival of transplanted hESC-ECs, and enhance their angiogenic effects in vivo. Furthermore, activation of nAChRs has anti-apoptotic, angiogenic, and proliferative effects through MAPK and Akt signaling pathways.     

Silencing of FABP3 Inhibits Proliferation and Promotes Apoptosis in Embryonic Carcinoma Cells

Fatty acid–binding protein 3 (FABP3) facilitates the movement of fatty acids in cardiac muscle. Previously, we reported that FABP3 is highly upregulated in the myocardium of ventricular septal defect patients and overexpression of FABP3 inhibited proliferation and promoted apoptosis in embryonic carcinoma cells (P19 cells). In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of FABP3 gene silencing on P19 cell differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis. We used RNA interference and a lentiviral-based vector system to create a stable FABP3-silenced P19 cell line; knockdown of FABP3 was confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR. Expression analysis of specific differentiation marker genes using quantitative real-time PCR and observation of morphological changes using an inverted microscope revealed that knockdown of FABP3 did not significantly affect the differentiation of P19 cells into cardiomyocytes. CCK-8 proliferation assays and cell cycle analysis demonstrated that FABP3 gene silencing significantly inhibited P19 cell proliferation. Furthermore, Annexin V-FITC/propidium iodide staining and the caspase-3 activity assay revealed that FABP3 gene silencing significantly promoted serum starvation–induced apoptosis in P19 cells. In agreement with our previous research, these results demonstrate that FABP3 may play an important role during embryonic heart development, and that either overexpression or silencing of FABP3 will lead to an imbalance between proliferation and apoptosis, which may result in embryonic cardiac malformations.     

人胚胎干细胞建株与维持培养条件的优化

人胚胎干细胞(human embryonic stem cell,hESCs)是早期胚胎或原始性腺中分离出来的一类细胞,它具有无限增殖、自我更新和全能分化的特性。无论在体内还是体外环境,人胚胎干细胞都能分化为机体几乎所有类型的细胞。基于其全能分化性,胚胎干细胞成为治疗各种退行性疾病的理想细胞来源。然而,在目前培养条件下所建立的胚胎干细胞株,仍然存在动物源性物质潜在污染的问题。因此,更优化的建株及培养条件十分重要。     

Study on The Proliferation and Drug-resistance of Human Brain Tumor Stem-like Cells

Brain tumor stem-like cells (BTSLCs) have been implied to play an important role in genesis and development of glioma. However, their characteristics on proliferation and drug-resistance are uncertain thoroughly. In this experiment, some of the biological characteristics about BTSLCs were explored. Twenty cases of different grades of human glioma tissues were obtained from clinic. The primary glioma cells were collected and CD133⁺ cells from them were purified by magnetic cell sorting assay. The BTSLCs were identified by testing the expression of CD133, Nestin, NSE, and GFAP, along with the culture process. WST-8 assay kit was used to evaluate the proliferating situation of CD133⁺ cells in the different grade gliomas, and to compare the drug-resistance between the CD133⁺ and CD133 ⁻ cells in the medium containing different concentrations of teniposide (VM-26). The results showed that the CD133⁺ cells could regenerate by self-renewal, then generate and different into NSE⁺ and GFAP⁺ cells, respectively. CD133⁺ cells in the high grade of gliomas showed the faster generation than the ones in the low grade. The number of survived CD133⁺ cells in the medium containing VM-26 was much more than the CD133⁻ ones in it. Therefore, it was implied that the CD133⁺ BTSLCs existed in the glioma tissues possessed the more tolerant ability to the VM-26, and could proliferate much more easily in the high-grade glioma.     

兔胚胎神经干细胞的分离、培养和鉴别

目的：研究兔胎脑神经干细胞体外生长特性,为探讨神经干细胞的临床应用及神经系统的发育奠定基础。方法：采用含碱性成纤维细胞生长因子（bFGF）和表皮细胞生长因子（EGF）的N2无血清培养技术,取18天龄兔胚胎脑组织,分离神经干细胞,并观察分离的细胞体外培养、增殖、分化潜能,免疫组化鉴定。结果：从18天龄兔胎脑皮质和纹状体中成功分离出具有自我更新和多分化潜能的神经干细胞,在无血清培养时细胞呈半贴壁状态生长,形成神经球,可传代。细胞呈Nestin免疫反应阳性;在含血清培养基中培养时则分化,分化后的细胞表达神经元细胞、星形胶质细胞和少突胶质细胞的特异性抗原。结论：来自兔胎脑神经干细胞能在体外培养、增殖并保持传代能力。无血清N2EGF、bFGF培养基有利于兔胎脑神经干细胞的存活和增殖,含血清培养基能诱导兔胎脑神经干细胞分化。     

An Efficient Weighted Graph Strategy to Identify Differentiation Associated Genes in Embryonic Stem Cells

In the past few decades, embryonic stem cells (ESCs) were of great interest as a model system for studying early developmental processes and because of their potential therapeutic applications in regenerative medicine. However, the underlying mechanisms of ESC differentiation remain unclear, which limits our exploration of the therapeutic potential of stem cells. Fortunately, the increasing quantity and diversity of biological datasets can provide us with opportunities to explore the biological secrets. However, taking advantage of diverse biological information to facilitate the advancement of ESC research still remains a challenge. Here, we propose a scalable, efficient and flexible function prediction framework that integrates diverse biological information using a simple weighted strategy, for uncovering the genetic determinants of mouse ESC differentiation. The advantage of this approach is that it can make predictions based on dynamic information fusion, owing to the simple weighted strategy. With this approach, we identified 30 genes that had been reported to be associated with differentiation of stem cells, which we regard to be associated with differentiation or pluripotency in embryonic stem cells. We also predicted 70 genes as candidates for contributing to differentiation, which requires further confirmation. As a whole, our results showed that this strategy could be applied as a useful tool for ESC research.     

Effect of Eriocitrin on Cell Proliferation,Apoptosis, Migration,and Scar Formation-Related Genes Expression in Tendon Stem Cells

Doklady Biochemistry and Biophysics - Tendinopathy is a common disease in elite and recreational athletes, and Eriocitrin is a flavonoid compound, which has antioxidant properties. The present...     

Nemo-Like Kinase Associated with Proliferation and Apoptosis by c-Myb Degradation in Breast Cancer

Nemo-like kinase (NLK), a mediator of the Wnt signaling pathway, binds directly to c-Myb, leading to its phosphorylation, ubiquitination and proteasome-dependent degradation. NLK was significantly downregulated in the breast cancer tissues compared to corresponding normal tissues. NLK expression was negatively correlated with c-Myb expression. NLK suppressed proliferation, induced apoptosis and mediated c-Myb degradation in MCF-7 cells via a mechanism that seems to involve c-myc and Bcl2. These findings might provide a novel target for therapeutic intervention in patients with breast cancer.