Human pluripotent stem cells would be invaluable for in vitro studies of aspects of human embryogenesis. With the goal of establishing pluripotent stem cell lines, gonadal ridges and mesenteries containing primordial germ cells (PGCs, 5-9 weeks postfertilization) were cultured on mouse STO fibroblast feeder layers in the presence of human recombinant leukemia inhibitory factor, human recombinan...

background: the transcription factor oct-4, is an important marker of undifferentiating level and a key regulating factor for maintenance of pluripotency in cells. establishment of an oct-4 promoter-based reporter system is an appropriate tool for monitoring the differentiation of embryonic stem cells both in vivo and in vitro. methods: in the present study, we report construction of a recombin...

This paper describes a method for quantitative extraction of nucleic acids from cultured pre-implantation mouse embryos in a form suitable for electrophoresis, and its application to the analysis of RNA synthesized during early mouse development. The nucleic acids synthesized by early mouse embryos have been identified by the use of RNase, DNase and mild alkaline hydrolysis. No obvious differen...

The Rockefeller University Press $30.00 J. Cell Biol. Vol. 208 No. 1 109–123 www.jcb.org/cgi/doi/10.1083/jcb.201404050 JCB 109 Correspondence to Mariusz Karbowski: [email protected] Abbreviations used in this paper: AvDev, average deviation; IMM, inner mitochondrial membrane; MEF, mouse embryonic fibroblast; Mff, mitochondrial fission factor; mito-PAGFP, mitochondrial matrix–targeted pho...

The Rockefeller University Press $30.00 J. Cell Biol. Vol. 207 No. 5 643–656 www.jcb.org/cgi/doi/10.1083/jcb.201404128 JCB 643 Correspondence to Tina Izard: izard{at}scripps.edu Abbreviations used in the paper: CC, correlation coefficient; FA, focal adhesion; MEF, mouse embryonic fibroblast; PC, phosphatidylcholine; PIP2, phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate; VBS, vinculin binding site; VH, vi...

The Rockefeller University Press $30.00 J. Cell Biol. Vol. 204 No. 5 729–745 www.jcb.org/cgi/doi/10.1083/jcb.201306149 JCB 729 T. Mikawa and T. Maruyama contributed equally to this paper. Correspondence to Hiroshi Kondoh: [email protected] Abbreviations used in this paper: DKO, double knockout; MEF, mouse embryonic fibroblast; PGAM, phosphoglycerate mutase; SA--Gal, senescence-associa...

The Rockefeller University Press $30.00 J. Cell Biol. Vol. 208 No. 4 443–455 www.jcb.org/cgi/doi/10.1083/jcb.201406102 JCB 443 Correspondence to Jason M. Haugh: [email protected] Abbreviations used in this paper: FMI, forward migration index; FP, fluorescent protein; GPI, glycophosphatidylinositol; MEF, mouse embryonic fibroblast; PDMS, polymethylsiloxane; PI3K, phosphoinositide 3-kinase; PI...

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...

Reprogramming of somatic cells has great potential to provide therapeutic treatments for a number of diseases as well as provide insight into mechanisms underlying early embryonic development. Improvement of induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) generation through mRNA-based methods is currently an area of intense research. This approach provides a number of advantages over previously used met...

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...