Chromosomal Abnormalities in Embryonic and Somatic Stem Cells

The potential use of stem cells (SCs) for tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, disease modeling, toxicological studies, drug delivery, and as in vitro model for the study of basic developmental processes implies large-scale in vitro culture. Here, after a brief description of the main techniques used for karyotype analysis, we will give a detailed overview of the chromosome abnormalities described in pluripotent (embryonic and induced pluripotent SCs) and somatic SCs, and the possible causes of their origin during culture. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel Stem cells (SCs) are undifferentiated cells capable of self-renewal and of differentiation into specific terminally-differentiated cell types. Based on their source of derivation, they can be classified into embryonic stem cells (ESCs) or somatic stem cells (SSCs). The first mouse ESC (mESC) lines were derived in 2 independent laboratories at the beginning of the 1980s from preimplantation embryos at the blastocyst stage Accepted: September 30, 2015