Stem cells have the potential for self-renewal and differentiation. First stem cell cultures were derived 30 years ago from early developing mouse embryos. These are pluripotent embryonic stem (ES) cells. Efforts towards ES cell derivation have been attempted in other mammalian and non-mammalian species. Work with stem cell culture in fish started 20 years ago. Laboratory fish species, in parti...

Background DOX is a powerful chemotherapeutic agent used in the treatment of solid tumors and malignant hematological diseases. However, its cardiac toxicity limits the clinical usefulness of this drug. Previous reports have shown Corticosteroids induce a cytoprotective effect on cardiomyocytes. Mouse transgenic embryonic stem cell-derived pure cardiomyocytes may be considered as a model for a...

PURPOSE Cancer cells possess traits reminiscent of those ascribed to normal stem cells. It is unclear whether these phenotypic similarities are the result of a common biological phenotype, such as regulatory pathways. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Lung cancer cell lines with corresponding gene expression data and genes associated with an embryonic stem cell identity were used to develop a signature of ...

Efficient production of haematopoietic stem (HPS) cells from embryonic stem (ES) cells or from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells requires a thorough understanding of haematopoietic differentiation pathways. On p. 2829, Gordon Keller and colleagues show that generation of HPS cells from ES and iPS cells follows the same steps as haematopoietic development in the embryo. They induced ES cells ...

Little is known about how neural stem cells are formed initially during development. We investigated whether a default mechanism of neural specification could regulate acquisition of neural stem cell identity directly from embryonic stem (ES) cells. ES cells cultured in defined, low-density conditions readily acquire a neural identity. We characterize a novel primitive neural stem cell as a com...

Embryonic stem (ES) cell pluripotency is dependent upon sustained expression of the key transcriptional regulators Oct4, Nanog, and Sox2. Dissection of the regulatory networks downstream of these transcription factors has provided critical insight into the molecular mechanisms that regulate ES cell pluripotency and early differentiation. Here we describe a role for Zic3, a member of the Gli fam...

To investigate the role of histone H3K27 demethylase UTX in embryonic stem (ES) cell differentiation, we have generated UTX knockout (KO) and enzyme-dead knock-in male ES cells. Deletion of the X-chromosome-encoded UTX gene in male ES cells markedly decreases expression of the paralogous UTY gene encoded by Y chromosome, but has no effect on global H3K27me3 level, Hox gene expression, or ES cel...

The field of regenerative medicine research is rapidly expanding. One area of interest to equine researchers is the possibility of isolating or generating pluripotent cells, capable of producing differentiated cell types derived from all 3 primary germ layers. Reports of equine embryonic stem-like (ES) cell isolation can be found in the literature. Other groups are working to produce equine-ind...

Rationale. The family of calcium-activated potassium channels consists of four members with varying biological functions and conductances. Besides membrane potential modulation, SK channels have been found to be involved in cardiac pacemaker cell development from ES cells and morphological shaping of neural stem cells. Objective. Distinct SK channel subtype expression in ES cells might elucidat...

In this Essay, we argue that pluripotent epiblast founder cells in the embryo and embryonic stem (ES) cells in culture represent the ground state for a mammalian cell, signified by freedom from developmental specification or epigenetic restriction and capacity for autonomous self-replication. We speculate that cell-to-cell variation may be integral to the ES cell condition, safe-guarding self-r...