New tools for human developmental biology (original) (raw)

Nature Biotechnology volume 18, pages 381–382 (2000)Cite this article

The establishment of immortal, pluripotent stem cell lines has given rise to a powerful tool for in vitro research of developmental processes at both cellular and organismal levels. These cells also offer tremendous potential for clinical application, serving as an unlimited source of cells for transplantation and tissue regeneration therapies. Whereas original lines were isolated from the mouse1,2, similar lines have more recently also been derived from nonhuman primate3 and human embryos4,5. Although the mouse is a more amenable and genetically tractable experimental system, significant differences exist between early developmental events in mice and humans. An important challenge for the further application of these cells in basic and clinical research is the generation of lineage-restricted progenitor cell types. In this issue, Pera and colleagues6 report a step in that direction with the derivation of pluripotent cells from human blastocysts and the isolation of a neuronal progenitor cell type from them.

Pera and coworkers isolated the ICMs from four human blastocysts by immunosurgery and were successful in establishing ES cell lines from two of these early embryos. For provision of essential growth factors the cells were grown on a feeder layer composed of mouse embryonic fibroblasts. This condition was found essential and sufficient for self-renewal, whereas further supplementation with recombinant human leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) was neither sufficient nor necessary, contrary to what is observed for human EG cells5. However, as previously reported4, the cells were not tolerant of low-density culture conditions, preventing the isolation of clonal lines. Both ES lines maintained a stable XX karyotype through more than 40 passages. The pluripotency of these cell lines was demonstrated in several ways. Most importantly, the cells were able to differentiate into cell types originating from each of the three embryonic germ layers: endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm. Since the definitive test–contribution to a chimeric animal–is not possible with human cells, this property was shown by the formation of teratomas when the cells were grafted into immune-compromised SCID mice.

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Figure 1: An illustration of the different human tissue sources for pluripotent cell derivation.

© Bob Crimi

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  1. Kevin D'Amour is a graduate student and Fred H. Gage is professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Laboratory of Genetics, La Jolla, 92037, CA
    Kevin D'Amour & Fred H. Gage

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  1. Kevin D'Amour
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  2. Fred H. Gage
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D'Amour, K., Gage, F. New tools for human developmental biology.Nat Biotechnol 18, 381–382 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/74429

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