The possibility to reprogram somatic human cells will greatly and deeply change genetic approach and allow the development of new tools to study genetics diseases. Indeed, our ability to study human genetic diseases suffers from the lack of valid in vitro models. The latter should (i) be originating from human primary cells, (ii) be able to self-renew for a long time and (iii) be able to differ...

introduction: embryonic stem (es) cells are pluripotent cells derived from the inner cell mass of blastocysts. these cells are appropriate for creation of animal models of human genetic diseases, the study of gene functions in vivo and differentiation into specific types as potential therapeutic agents for several diseases. we describe here production of transgenic chimeric mouse blastocysts by...

germline and somatic stem cells are distinct types of stem cells that are dedicated to reproduction and somatic tissue regeneration, respectively. germline stem cells (gscs), which can self-renew and generate gametes, are unique stem cells in that they are solely dedicated to transmit genetic information from generation to generation. we developed a strategy for the establishment of germline st...

background: the study of specific genes expressed in the testis is important to understanding testis development and function. spermatogenesis is an attractive model for the study of gene expression during germ cell differentiation. spermatogenesis associated-19 (spata-19) is a recently-identified important spermatogenesis-related gene specifically expressed in testis. its protein product is in...

Objective(s): In some previous studies, the extract of embryonic carcinoma cells (ECCs) and embryonic stem cells (ESCs) have been used to reprogram somatic cells to more dedifferentiated state. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of mouse ESCs extract on the expression of some pluripotency markers in human adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ADSCs). Materials and Methods: Human A...

Background Specific growth factors and feeder layers seem to have important roles in in vitro embryonic stem cells (ESCs) differentiation. In this study,the effects of bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) and mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) co-culture system on germ cell differentiation from mouse ESCs were studied. MaterialsAndMethods Cell suspension was prepared from one-day-old embryoid bo...

Backgrounds: A straight-forward way to identify whether a drug or environmental chemical can be harmful to unborn baby is to evaluate its effect on laboratory animals. All invivo methods need large number of animal and are therefore time consuming and expensive. However, the thousands of chemicals in need of testing, to reduce the spending of live animals, an assortment of in vitro assays has ...