• International Journal of Stem Cells
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.194-203
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• 2024

Evaluating cell metabolism is crucial during pluripotent stem cell (PSC) differentiation and somatic cell reprogramming as it affects cell fate. As cultured stem cells are heterogeneous, a comparative analysis of relative metabolism using existing metabolic analysis methods is difficult, resulting in inaccuracies. In this study, we measured human PSC basal metabolic levels using a Seahorse analyzer. We used fibroblasts, human induced PSCs, and human embryonic stem cells to monitor changes in basal metabolic levels according to cell number and determine the number of cells suitable for analysis. We evaluated normalization methods using glucose and selected the most suitable for the metabolic analysis of heterogeneous PSCs during the reprogramming stage. The response of fibroblasts to glucose increased with starvation time, with oxygen consumption rate and extracellular acidification rate responding most effectively to glucose 4 hours after starvation and declining after 5 hours of starvation. Fibroblasts and PSCs achieved appropriate responses to glucose without damaging their metabolism 2~4 and 2~3 hours after starvation, respectively. We developed a novel method for comparing basal metabolic rates of fibroblasts and PSCs, focusing on quantitative analysis of glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation using glucose without enzyme inhibitors. This protocol enables efficient comparison of energy metabolism among cell types, including undifferentiated PSCs, differentiated cells, and cells undergoing cellular reprogramming, and addresses critical issues, such as differences in basal metabolic levels and sensitivity to normalization, providing valuable insights into cellular energetics.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• 제35권4호
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• pp.449-455
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• 2011

Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells have been generated from mouse and human somatic cells by etopic expression of transcription factors. iPS cells are indistinguishable from ES cells in terms of morphology and stem cell marker expression. Moreover, mouse iPS cells give rise to chimeric mice that are competent for germline transmission. However, mice derived from iPS cells often develop tumors. Furthermore, the low efficiency of iPS cell generation is a big disadvantage for mechanistic studies. Nonviral plasmid.based vectors are free of many of the drawbacks that constrain viral vectors. The histone deacetylase inhibitor valproic acid (VPA) has been shown to improve the efficiency of mouse and human iPS cell generation, and vitamin C (Vc) accelerates gene expression changes and establishment of the fully reprogrammed state. The MEK inhibitor PD0325901 (Stemgent) has been shown to increase the efficiency of the reprogramming of human primary fibroblasts into iPS cells. In this report, we described the generation of mouse iPS cells devoid of exogenous DNA by the simple transient transfection of a nonviral vector carrying 2A-peptide-linked reprogramming factors. We used VPA, Vc, and the MEK inhibitor PD0325901 to increase the reprogramming efficiency. The reprogrammed somatic cells expressed pluripotency markers and formed EBs.

• 한국수정란이식학회지
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.31-41
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• 1994

핵 이식 기술을 이용한 cloning 송아지 생산이 처음 보고(Prather et al., 1987) 된 후, 소 수정란 Cloning에 대한 많은 연구가 분자 생물학 등 여러 분야에서 꾸준히 계속되고 있다. 이 기술은 빈우의 번식 능력을 향상시켜 유전적 개량량을 증대할 수 있는 번식과 육종을 위한 도구로써 많은 잠재력을 지니고 있다. 최근 핵 이식 기술을 이용하여 유전적으로 우수한 빈우로부터 수천개의 수정란을 생산하여, 이들 수정란에게 생산된 송아지가 번식 축군으로 공시되어 있으므로, 그 결과가 주목되나 아직까지는 비용이 많이 들고 송아지 생산 효율이 저조하므로, 가까운 장래에 일반 양축가에 이용될 가능성이 낮다. 그러나 이 기술의 실용화를 위하여 선결되어야 할 많은 문제점들 중, 지난 몇 년 동안 많은 연구기관에서 수행된 활발한 연구의 결실로써, 난포란 제핵, cell fusion 과 oocyte activation의 방법등 주요 장애 요인들이 점차 극복되면서 실용화를 위한 접근이 예견되어지며, 구미의 일부 개량 기관에서는 이를 상업화 하기 위한 여건을 다지고 있다. 그러므로 이 Review에서는 fllicular dynamics, 난포란의 성숙, cell cycle, 난포란 제핵, cell fusion과 oocyte activation, 이식후 핵의 remodeling과 reprogramming에 대한 현재까지의 보고된 자료를 기초로 그 기본 원리를 재고하는데 초점을 맞추었다.

• 한국발생생물학회지:발생과생식
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• 제7권2호
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• pp.61-68
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• 2003

포유동물의 초기 발생과정 중 접합체가 전능성이나 다능성을 가지기 위해서는 전반적인 DNA 메틸화를 포함하는 후성 유전학적 리프로그래밍의 복잡한 과정을 거쳐야만 한다. 본 연구팀에서는 공여핵의 후성 유전학적 리프로그래밍 과정을 조사하기 위하여 소 복제수정란에서 메틸화 양상을 분석하였다. 복제수정란의 비정상적인 메틸화 양상이 다양한 반복염기서열에서 관찰되었지만 single-copy유전자들의 염기서열은 정상적인 메틸화 양상을 보여주었다. 전반적으로 복제수정란의 전반적인 메틸화 상태는 정상수정란과 완전히 다른 양상을 보여주었다. 또한 복제 배반포의 영양외배엽세포에서 특이적으로 높은 메틸화 수준은 현 복제동물에서 빈번히 나타나는 불완전한 태반형성에 작용할 수 있을 것이다. 결론적으로 복제수정란의 비정상적 발생은 공여핵의 불완전한 후성 유전학적 리프로그래밍에 기인할 수 있다는 사실을 제시하게 되었다. 이러한 공여핵의 후성 유전학적 과정의 이해는 복제수정란의 비정상적 발생을 보다 분명히 밝힐 수 있을 것이다.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• 제44권4호
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• pp.144-151
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• 2019

Alopecia has emerged as one of the biggest interests in modern society. Many studies have focused on the treatment of alopecia, such as transplantation of hair follicles or inhibition of the androgen pathway. Hair growth is achieved through proper proliferation of the components such as keratinocytes and dermal papilla cells (DPCs), movement, and interaction between the two cells. The present study examined the effect of the hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway, which is an important and fundamental signal in the cell, on the morphology and the viability of human keratinocytes and DPCs. Upregulation of Hh signaling caused a morphological change and an increase in epithelium-mesenchymal transition-related gene expression but reduced the viability of keratinocytes, while the alteration of Hh signaling did not cause any change in DPCs. The results show the possibility that the regulation of Hh signaling can be applied for the treatment of alopecia.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• 제33권4호
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• pp.223-228
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• 2009

We attempted to control the maturation promoting factor (MPF) activity and investigated the subsequent reprogramming of bovine somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos. Serum-starved adult skin fibroblasts were fused to enucleated oocytes treated with 2.5 mM caffeine or $150\;{\mu}M$ roscovitine. The MPF activity, nuclear remodeling patterns, chromosome constitutions and development of SCNT embryos were evaluated. Methylated DNA of embryos was detected at various developmental stages. The MPF activity was increased by caffeine treatment or reduced by roscovitine treatment (p<0.05). Blastocyst development was higher in the caffeine-treated groups (27.6%) than that of the roscovitine-treated group (8.3%, p<0.05). There was no difference in the apoptotic cell index among the three groups. However, the mean cell number of blastocysts was increased in the caffeine-treated group (p<0.05). Higher methylation levels were observed in the Day 3 embryos of the roscovitine-treated group (50.8%), whereas lower methylation levels were noted at Day 5 in the caffeine-treated group (12.5%, p<0.05). These results reveal that the increase in MPF activity via a caffeine-treatment creates a more suitable condition for nuclear reprogramming after SCNT.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• 제9권2호
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• pp.67-72
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• 2012

The generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from patients' somatic cells provides a new paradigm for studying human genetic diseases. Human iPSCs which have similar properties of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) provide a powerful platform to recapitulate the disease-specific cell types by using various differentiation techniques. This promising technology has being realized the possibility to explore pathophysiology of many human genetic diseases at the molecular and cellular levels. Furthermore, disease-specific human iPSCs can also be used for patient-based drug screening and new drug discovery at the stage of the pre-clinical test in vitro. In this review, we summarized the concept and history of cellular reprogramming or iPSC generation and highlight recent progresses for disease modeling using patient-specific iPSCs.

• 한국수정란이식학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국수정란이식학회 2002년도 국제심포지엄
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• pp.43-55
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• 2002

Cloning by nuclear transfer in mammals using somatic cells has enormous potential applications. However, somatic cloning has been inefficient in all species in which NT is successful. High abortion and fetal death rates have been observed. These developmental defects have been attributed to incomplete nuclear reprogramming by the somatic cloning process. In this review, we will discuss studies conducted in our labs to understand the nuclear reprogramming process.

• 대한생식의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한불임학회 2002년도 제42차 춘계학술대회
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• pp.11-17
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• 2002

Animal clones derived from somatic cells have been successfully produced in a variety of mammalian species such as sheep, cattle, mice, goats, pigs, cat and rabbits. However, there are still many unsolved problems in the present cloning technology. Somatic cell nuclear transfer has shown several developmental aberrancies including high rate of abortion in early gestation and increased perinatal death. These developmental failures of cloned embryos may arise from abnormal reprogramming of donor genome and/or incomplete cloning procedure. We have found that overall genomic methylation status of cloned bovine embryos is quite different from that of normal embryos in various genomic regions, suggesting that the developmental failures of cloned embryos may be due to incomplete reprogramming of donor genomic DNA. Many of the advances in understanding the molecular events for reprogramming of donor genome will more clarify the developmental defects of cloned embryos.

• International Journal of Stem Cells
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• 제16권2호
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• pp.156-167
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• 2023

Background and Objectives: Cellular reprogramming in regenerative medicine holds great promise for treating patients with neurological disorders. In this regard, small molecule-mediated cellular conversion has attracted special attention because of its ease of reproducibility, applicability, and fewer safety concerns. However, currently available protocols for the direct conversion of somatic cells to neurons are limited in clinical application due of their complex nature, lengthy process, and low conversion efficiency. Methods and Results: Here, we report a new protocol involving chemical-based direct conversion of human fibroblasts (HF) to matured neuron-like cells with a short duration and high conversion efficiency using temporal and strategic dual epigenetic regulation. In this protocol, epigenetic modulation by inhibition of histone deacetylase and bromodomain enabled to overcome "recalcitrant" nature of adult fibroblasts and shorten the duration of neuronal reprogramming. We further observed that an extended epigenetic regulation is necessary to maintain the induced neuronal program to generate a homogenous population of neuron-like cells. Conclusions: Therefore, our study provides a new protocol to produce neurons-like cells and highlights the need of proper epigenetic resetting to establish and maintain neuronal program in HF.