Introduction Embryonic stem (ES) cells are unspecialized cells isolated from the preimplantation embryo, specifically from the inner cell mass present at the blastocyst stage. ES cells have the unique capacity to proliferate indefinitely in an undifferentiated state; they have not yet specialized into a specific cell lineage and harbor features of pluripotency, with the ability to differentiate...

Neurodegenerative diseases are the hereditary and sporadic diseases which are characterized by progressive neuronal loss of the nervous system and are emerging as the leading cause of death, disabilities, and a socioeconomic burden due to an increase in life expectancy. There are many neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s, disease, amyotrophic lateral...

BACKGROUND Embryonic stem cells (ESC), which originate from the inner cell mass of blastocysts, are valuable models for testing the effects of toxicants on preimplantation development. In this study, mouse ESC (mESC) were used to compare the toxicity of mainstream (MS) and sidestream (SS) cigarette smoke on cell attachment, survival and proliferation. In addition, smoke from a traditional comme...

Pluripotent stem cells have the capacity to divide indefinitely and to differentiate into all somatic cells and tissue lines. They can be genetically manipulated in vitro by knocking genes in or out, and therefore serve as an excellent tool for gene function studies and for the generation of models for some human diseases. Since 1981, when the first mouse embryonic stem cell (ESC) line was gene...

Mice derived entirely from embryonic stem (ES) cells can be generated through tetraploid complementation. Although XY male ES cell lines are commonly used in this system, occasionally, monosomic XO female mice produced spontaneous Y chromosome loss. Here, we describe an efficient method to obtain by CRISPR-Cas9-mediated deletion of the chromosome, allowing generation clonal The viable and able ...

OBJECTIVE To compare the effect of using open and closed carriers on count of inner cell mass in vitrified mouse blastocyst after warming. METHODS The experimental study was conducted at Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran, from April to September 2010. Forty female NMRI (Naval Medical Research Institute, USA) mice were injected with pregnant mare's serum gonadotropi...

The POU (Pit-Oct-Unc)-domain transcription factor, Oct-4, has become a useful marker of pluripotency in the mouse. It is found exclusively in mouse preimplantation-stage embryos after embryonic genome activation and is a characteristic of mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells, and its absence in knockout mice precludes inner cell mass (ICM) formation in blastocysts. Expression of Oct-4 has also been ...

Early mammalian embryogenesis is controlled by mechanisms governing the balance between pluripotency and differentiation. The expression of early lineage-specific genes can vary significantly between species, with implications for developmental control and stem cell derivation. However, the mechanisms involved in patterning the human embryo are still unclear. We analyzed the appearance and loca...

Tumor cells have the capability to trans- and to dedifferentiate, for example by reactivating embryonic development genes and stem cell characteristics. The aim of our study was to show the differential expression of stem- and progenitor cell markers in human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines (HCC). Different human HCC cell lines (HUH7, HUH7 5-15, HUH7 pcDNA3.1, Hep3B and HepG2) were cultured...

Background: Fibronectin type III domain-containing 5 proteins (Fndc5), an exercise hormone, formerly known as peroxisomal protein that was cloned in 2002. Transcript profile analysis of Fndc5 revealed high degree of expression in heart, skeletal muscle and brain. Our recent studies indicated a significant increase (approximately 10 folds) in mRNA level of Fndc5 when mouse embryonic stem cells w...