Embryonic stem cells characteristics

Steel D, Hyllner J, Sartipy P (2009) Cardiomyocytes derived from human embryonic stem cells—characteristics and utility for drug discovery. Curr Opin Drug Discov Devel 12(1)433-140... 

Origin and Derivation of Embryonic Stem Cells Characteristics Alternate... 

The main focus of stem cell research over the last few decades has been directed to embryonic stem cells. However, more recently, research upon and an understanding of various populations of adult stem cells has gathered pace. Adult stem cells are undifferentiated cells found amongst differentiated cells in a tissue or organ. These cells can renew themselves and can differentiate to yield the major cell types characteristic of the tissue in which they reside. The main physiological role of adult stem cells, therefore, appears to be to maintain and to repair (to a certain extent at least) the tissue in which they reside. 

Another characteristic of embryonic cells transplanted into adults is their general acceptance by the immune system of the host. When the donor embryonic stem cells are from a species different than the host, however, rejection usually occurs unless suppressor drugs are used. 

The EST has been developed with the aim to exploit the characteristics and differentiation potential of mouse embryonic stem cells (ES cells), established from the early embryo in 1981 [4, 5], ES cells are cultured in suspension to induce the formation of embryoid bodies, and afterwards they are transferred in 24-well dishes to allow attachment and differentiation in contracting cardiomyocytes. The toxicological endpoint is the inhibition of cardiac differentiation. In parallel a cytotoxicity test is performed on undifferentiated ES cells and a control somatic (fibroblast) cell line (3T3). The concentrations of testing chemicals that induce 50 % of differentiation inhibition (ID50) and 50 % cytotoxicity (IC50) in ES cells and 3T3 cells are inserted in a validated prediction model to classify the test chemical as non-embryotoxic, moderate, or strong embryotoxic [2, 6, 7], The validation of the method has been... 

Embryonic stem cells are the prototype of all stem cells. Characteristics are well-defined because ES cell lines were established. 

In recent years, the potential and promise held by embryonic stem cells as a source for new cell-reposition therapies have attracted the attention of the scientific and lay community. Stem cells are, by definition, self-propagating cells that are extremely plastic and can potentially differentiate into multiple types of cells. However, the same plasticity that holds the promise of generation of multiple tissues from a single cell line is also the characteristic... 

Hanna, J., Cheng, A. W., Saha, K. et al. 2010. Human embryonic stem cells with biological and epigenetic characteristics similar to those of mouse escs. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 107(20) 9222-7. 

Similar to the situation with 2D membranes, the basic molecular characteristics of chitosan such as DD also show great influence on the ability of chitosan scaffolds to modulate stem cell behavior. The chitosan scaffolds with a high DD can maintain the viability and pluripotency of buffalo embryonic stem-like (ES-Uke) cells [15]. However, the cell behavior on 2D and 3D environments are quite different. Comparison of MSC behavior in both 2D plates and chitosan/gelatin/chondroitin scaffolds demonstrates that the 3D microenviromnent can enhance osteogenesis and maintain the viability of cells [161]. The research by Altman et al. [162] found that the apparent elastic modulus and cytoskeleton F-actin fiber density were higher for ADSCs seeded in 3D sflk fibroin/chitosan scaffolds than on 2D glass plates (Fig. 13). 

---