• 한국동물생명공학회지
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• 제38권4호
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• pp.199-208
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• 2023

Background: Canine induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are an attractive source for veterinary regenerative medicine, disease modeling, and drug development. Here we used vitamin C (Vc) to improve the reprogramming efficiency of canine iPSCs, and its functions in the reprogramming process were elucidated. Methods: Retroviral transduction of Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, c-Myc (OSKM), and GFP was employed to induce reprogramming in canine fetal fibroblasts. Following transduction, the culture medium was subsequently replaced with ESC medium containing Vc to determine the effect on reprogramming activity. Results: The number of AP-positive iPSC colonies dramatically increased in culture conditions supplemented with Vc. Vc enhanced the efficacy of retrovirus transduction, which appears to be correlated with enhanced cell proliferation capacity. To confirm the characteristics of the Vc-treated iPSCs, the cells were cultured to passage 5, and pluripotency markers including Oct4, Sox2, Nanog, and Tra-1-60 were observed by immunocytochemistry. The expression of endogenous pluripotent genes (Oct4, Nanog, Rex1, and telomerase) were also verified by PCR. The complete silencing of exogenously transduced human OSKM factors was observed exclusively in canine iPSCs treated with Vc. Canine iPSCs treated with Vc are capable of forming embryoid bodies in vitro and have spontaneously differentiated into three germ layers. Conclusions: Our findings emphasize a straightforward method for enhancing the efficiency of canine iPSC generation and provide insight into the Vc effect on the reprogramming process.

• 한국발생생물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국발생생물학회 2003년도 제3회 국제심포지움 및 학술대회
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• pp.102-102
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• 2003

Embryonic stem (ES) cells proliferate extensively in the undifferentiated state and have the potential to differentiate into a variety of cell types in response to various environmental cues. The generation of functional dopaminergic neurons from ES cells is promising for cell replacement therapy to treat Parkinson's disease. We compared the in vitro differentiation potential of pluripotent human embryonic stem (hES, MB03) cells induced with basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) or retinoic acid (RA). Both types of treatment resulted in similar neural cell differentiation patterns at the terminal differentiation stage, specifically, 75% neurons and 11% glial cells. Additionally, treatment of hES cells with brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) or transforming growth factor (TGF)- $\alpha$ during the terminal differentiation stage led to significantly increased tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) expression, compared to control (P<0.05). In contrast, no effect was observed on the rate of mature or glutamic acid decarboxylase-positive neurons. Immunostaining and HPLC analyses revealed the higher levels of TH (20.3%) and dopamine in bFGF and TGF-$\alpha$ treated hES cells than in RA or BDNF treated hES cells. The results indicate that TGF-$\alpha$ may be successfully used in the bFGF induction protocol to yield higher numbers of functional dopaminergic neurons from hES cells.

• 한국발생생물학회지:발생과생식
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• 제15권3호
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• pp.187-195
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• 2011

X chromosome inactivation (XCI) is a process that enables mammalian females to ensure the dosage compensation for X-linked genes. Investigating the mechanism of XCI might provide deeper understandings of chromosomal silencing, epigenetic regulation of gene expressions, and even the course of evolution. Studies on mammalian XCI conducted with mice have revealed many fundamental findings on XCI. However, difference of murine and human XCI necessitates the further investigation in human XCI. Recent success in reprogramming of differentiated cells into pluripotent stem cells showed the reversibility of XCI in vitro, X chromosome reactivation (XCR), which provides another tool to study the change in X chromosome status. This review summarizes the current knowledge of XCI during early embryonic development and describes recent achievements in studies of XCI in reprogramming process.

• 한국수정란이식학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국수정란이식학회 2002년도 국제심포지엄
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• pp.63-65
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• 2002

Identification of spermatogonial stem cell-specific surface molecules is important in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the maintenance and differentiation of these cells. We have found that spermatogonia from busulfan treated mice expressed an autoantigen that distinguishes between undifferentiated and differentiated spermatogonia. Four to six weeks after busulfan treatment, germ cells located in the basal compartment of seminiferous epithelium show isotype-specific IgG deposits that form due to autoimmunity. Before busulfan treatment, the level of testicular IgG was very low but IgG levels began to increase after week 4 and peaked at week 6. When cells from the busulfan treated testis were analyzed using laser scanning cytomeoy (LSC), the frequency of cells positive for IgG deposits, 6-integrin, and 1-integrin were 16.5${\pm}$3.8%, 11.8${\pm}$2.6%, and 9.0${\pm}$ 1.4%, respectively. Immunofluorescent staining suggested that most, if not all of the cells with IgG-deposits isolated from a laminin-coated dish, were also positive for a spermatogonial stem cell marker \ulcorner6-integrins as well as for a germ cell-specific marker TRA 98. We determined serum and intratesticular IgG levels and the soundness of seminiferous tubule basement membrane from busulfan treated mice using electron microscopy, in order to study the mechanism responsible for IgG deposits in spermatogonia. We found that the basement membranes of seminiferous tubules from busulfan treated mice were severely impaired when compared to those of normal adult, neonates and w/wv mice. Furthermore, new blood cells were observed in the surface of the damaged basement membrane along the seminiferous tubules. These results suggest that the IgG in spermatogonial stem cells accumulates from circulating blood through the impaired basement membranes induced by busulfan treatment. Taken together, our study suggests that IgG can be used as a new marker for undifferentiated spermatogonia cells.

• 한국발생생물학회지:발생과생식
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• 제11권3호
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• pp.167-177
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• 2007

본 연구에서는 사람의 지방조직(human adipose tissue-derived stem cells, HAD), 탯줄(human umbilical cordderived stem cells, HUC), 그리고 양막(human amnion-derived stem cells, HAM)유래 줄기세포를 분리하여 세포의 형태 및 성장속도를 비교하고, 역전사 중합효소 연쇄반응과 면역세포화학 염색법을 이용하여 유전자와 단백질 발현을 비교 분석하였다. 또한 지방유래 줄기세포를 이용하여 심장근육세포로의 분화를 유도하였다. 본 연구 결과, 탯줄과 양막유래 줄기세포의 형태는 매우 유사하였으며, 지방유래 줄기세포의 형태는 다른 것으로 나타났다. 분열시간은 탯줄유래 줄기세포가 가장 빨랐으나 총 분열 횟수는 양막유래 줄기세포와 같았으며, 지방유래 줄기세포의 총 분열횟수가 가장 많았다. 세 종류 줄기세포의 유전자와 단백질 발현은 비슷한 양상을 나타냈다. 지방세포, 골세포, 연골세포로의 분화 유도 결과 세 종류의 줄기세포 모두 분화 유도되었다. 또한, 심장세포 특이 유전자의 발현 분석 결과 세 종류의 줄기세포에서 유사한 발현 양상을 나타냈다. 이 중 지방유래 줄기세포를 24시간 동안 $10\;{\mu}M$ 5-azacytidine 처리 후 기본 배양액에서 4주 동안 배양하거나 또는 5-azacytidine 처리 후 bone morphogenic protein-2(BMP-2)와 fibroblast growth factor-10(FGF-10) 또는 BMP-4와 FGF-4 또는 BMP-4와 FGF-8이 첨가된 배양액으로 4주 동안 배양하여 심근세포로의 분화를 유도하였다. 분화 유도 후 심장세포 특이 유전자 발현을 분석 결과 cardiac myosin light chain-1(Cmlc-1)과 L-type calcium channel ${\alpha}1C$ subunit(${\alpha}1C$) 유전자의 발현이 증가하였다. 그러나 troponin T(TnT), troponin I(TnI) 그리고 potassium channel Kv4.3 subunit (Kv4.3) 유전자의 발현은 증가하지 않았다. 본 연구 결과, 지방, 탯줄 및 양막유래 줄기세포는 특성이 매우 유사한 것으로 나타났으며, 심장 질환 치료를 목적으로 하는 세포 치료에 이용될 수 있을 것으로 사료된다. 또한, 적절한 배양조건 하에서 성장인자와 cytokine들을 처리하여 심장세포로의 분화 유도가 이루어진다면 임상적용에 유용한 세포로 사용될 수 있을 것으로 사료된다.

• 한국동물번식학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국동물번식학회 2003년도 학술발표대회 발표논문초록집
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• pp.80-80
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• 2003

Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor, cognitive, and psychiatric symptoms, accompanied by marked cell death in the striatum and cortex. Stereotaxic injection of quinolinic acid (QA) into striatum results in a degeneration of GABAergic neurons and exhibits abnormal motor behaviors typical of the illness. The objective of this study was carried out to obtain basic information about whether parthenogenetic mouse embryonic stem (PmES) cells are suitable for cell replacement therapy of HD. To establish PmES cell lines, hybrid F1 (C57BL/6xCBA/N) mouse oocytes were treated with 7% ethanol for 5 min and cytochalasin-B for 4 hr to initiate spontaneous cleavage. Thus established PmES cells were induced to differentiate using bFGF (20ng/ml) followed by selection of neuronal precursor cells for 8 days in N2 medium. After selection, cells were expanded at the presence of bFGF (20 ng/ml) for another 6 days, then a final differentiation step in N2 medium for 7 days. To establish recipient animal models of HD, young adult mice (7 weeks age ICR mice) were lesioned unilaterally with a stereotaxic injection of QA (60 nM) into the striatum and the rotational behavior of the animals was tested using apomorphine (0.1mg/kg, IP) 7 days after the induction of lesion. Animals rotating more than 120 turns per hour were selected and the differentiated PmES cells (1$\times$10$^4$cells/ul) were implanted into striatum. Four weeks after the graft, immunohistochemical studies revealed the presence of cells reactive to anti-NeuN antibody. However, only a slight improvement of motor behavior was observed. By Nissl staining, cell mass resembling tumor was found at the graft site and near cortex which may explain the slight behavioral improvement. Detailed experiment on cell viability, differentiation and migration explanted in vivo is currently being studied.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• 제16권4호
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• pp.394-407
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• 2011

Better understanding of the complex factors leading to human diseases will be necessary for both long term prevention and for managing short and long-term health problems. The underlying causes, leading to a global health crisis in both acute and chronic diseases, include finite global health care resources for sustained healthy human survival, the population explosion, increased environmental pollution, decreased clean air, water, food distribution, diminishing opportunities for human self-esteem, increased median life span, and the interconnection of infectious and chronic diseases. The transition of our pre-human nutritional requirements for survival to our current culturally-shaped diet has created a biologically-mismatched human dietary experience. While individual genetic, gender, and developmental stage factors contribute to human diseases, various environmental and culturally-determined factors are now contributing to both acute and chronic diseases. The transition from the hunter-gatherer to an agricultural-dependent human being has brought about a global crisis in human health. Initially, early humans ate seasonally-dependent and calorically-restricted foods, during the day, in a "feast or famine" manner. Today, modern humans eat diets of caloric abundance, at all times of the day, with foods of all seasons and from all parts of the world, that have been processed and which have been contaminated by all kinds of factors. No longer can one view, as distinct, infectious agent-related human acute diseases from chronic diseases. Moreover, while dietary and environmental chemicals could, in principle, cause disease pathogenesis by mutagenic and cytotoxic mechanisms, the primary cause is via "epigenetic", or altered gene expression, modifications in the three types of cells (e.g., adult stem; progenitor and terminally-differentiated cells of each organ) during all stages of human development. Even more significantly, alteration in the quantity of adult stem cells during early development by epigenetic chemicals could either increase or decrease the risk to various stem cell-based diseases, such as cancer, later in life. A new concept, the Barker hypothesis, has emerged that indicates pre-natal maternal dietary exposures can now affect diseases later in life. Examples from the studies of the atomic bomb survivors should illustrate this insight.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제20권3호
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• pp.280-285
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• 2012

The developing embryo naturally experiences relatively low oxygen conditions in vivo. Under in vitro hypoxia, mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) lose their self-renewal activity and display an early differentiated morphology mediated by the hypoxia-inducible factor-$1{\alpha}$ (HIF-$1{\alpha}$). Previously, we demonstrated that histone deacetylase (HDAC) is activated by hypoxia and increases the protein stability and transcriptional activity of HIF-$1{\alpha}$ in many human cancer cells. Furthermore HDAC1 and 3 mediate the differentiation of mECSs and hematopoietic stem cells. However, the role of HDACs and their inhibitors in hypoxia-induced early differentiation of mESCs remains largely unknown. Here, we examined the effects of several histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) on the self-renewal properties of mESCs under hypoxia. Inhibition of HDAC under hypoxia effectively decreased the HIF-$1{\alpha}$ protein levels and substantially improved the expression of the LIF-specific receptor (LIFR) and phosphorylated-STAT3 in mESCs. In particular, valproic acid (VPA), a pan HDACI, showed dramatic changes in HIF-$1{\alpha}$ protein levels and LIFR protein expression levels compared to other HDACIs, including sodium butyrate (SB), trichostatin A (TSA), and apicidin (AP). Importantly, our RT-PCR data and alkaline phosphatase assays indicate that VPA helps to maintain the self-renewal activity of mESCs under hypoxia. Taken together, these results suggest that VPA may block the early differentiation of mESCs under hypoxia via the destabilization of HIF-$1{\alpha}$.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제5권1호
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• pp.1-5
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• 2007

Embryonic stem cells can be differentiated into various types of cells, requiring a tight regulation of transcription. Biomarkers related to each lineage of cells are used to guide the differentiation into neural or any other fates. In previous experiments, we reported the guided differentiation (GD)-specific genes by comparing profiles of random differentiation (RD). Interestingly 68% of differentially expressed genes in GD overlap with that of RD, which makes it difficult for us to separate the lineages by examining several markers. In this paper, we design a prediction model to identify the differentiation into neural fates from any other lineage. From the profiles of 11,376 genes, 203 differentially expressed genes between neural and random differentiation were selected by random variance T-test with 95% confidence and 5% false discovery rate. Based on support vector machine algorithm, we could select 79 marker genes from the 203 informative genes to construct the optimal prediction model. Here we propose a prediction model for the prediction of neural fates from random differentiation which is constructed with a perfect accuracy.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• 제29권1호
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• pp.1-12
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• 2002

Objective: In order to acquire the technique for the establishment of human embryonic stem cells (ESe) derived from the human frozen-thawed embryos produced in IVF-ET program, this study was performed to establish mouse ESC derived from the in vitro fertilized embryos. Materials and Methods: After Fl hybrid (C57BL female $\times$ CBA mael) female mice were superovulated with PMSG and hCG treatment, their oocytes were retrieved and inseminated, and the fertilized embryos were cultured for 96-120 hours until the expected stages of blastocysts were obtained. To isolate the inner cell mass (ICM), either the blastocysts were treated with immunosurgery, or the whole embryos were cultured for 4 days. Isolated ICMs were then cultured onto STO feeder cell layer, and the resultant ICM colonies were subcultured with trypsin-EDTA treatment. During the subculture process, ESC-like cell colonies were observed with phase contrast microscopy. To identify ESC in the subcultured ESC-like cell colonies, alkaline phosphatase activity and Oct-4 (octamer-binding transcription factor-4) expression were examined by immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR, respectively. To examine the spontaneous differentiation, ESC-like cell colonies were cultured without STO feeder cell layer and leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF). Results: Seven ESC-like cell lines were established from ICMs isolated from the in vitro fertilized embryos. According to the developmental stage, the growth of ICMs isolated from the expanded blastocysts was significantly better than that of ICMs isolated from the hatched blastocysts (80.3% vs. 58.7%, p<0.05). ESC-like cell colonies were only obtained from ICMs of expanded blastocysts. However, the ICMs isolated from the embryos treated with immunosurgery were poorly grown and frequently differentiated during the culture process. The established ESC-like cell colonies were positively stained with alkaline phosphatase and expressed Oct-4, and their morphology resembled that observed in the previously reported mouse ESC. In addition, following the extended in vitro culture process, they maintained their expression of cell surface markers characteristic of the pluripotent stem cells such as alkaline phosphatase and Oct-4. When cultured without STO feeder cell layer and LIF, they were spontaneously differentiated into the various types of cells. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that the establishment of mouse ESC can be successfully derived from the in vitro fertilized embryos. The established ESC-like cells expressed the cell surface markers characteristic of the pluripotent stem cells and spontaneously differentiated into the various types of cells.