BACKGROUND Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is an indispensable factor for maintaining mouse embryonic stem (ES) cell pluripotency. A feeder layer and serum are also needed to maintain an undifferentiated state, however, such animal derived materials need to be eliminated for clinical applications. Therefore, a more reliable ES cell culture technique is required. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDING...

Introduction: ES cells are considered a potential alternative source of cell therapy and tissue transplantation [1]. However, spontaneous differentiation often happens when embryonic stem cell is cultured in vitro [2]. When first isolated, it was believed that having murine embryonic fibroblasts as the feeder cell was essential for mouse ES cell maintenance [3]. However, if ES cells are used to...

Female germline stem cells (FGSCs) or oogonial stem cells (OSCs) have the capacity to generate newborn oocytes and thus open a new door to fight ovarian aging and female infertility. However, the production and identification of OSCs are difficult for investigators. Rare amount of these cells in the ovary results in the failure of the acquisition of OSCs. Furthermore, the oocyte formation by OS...

PURPOSE To describe a simple technique of cultivating human corneal epithelial stem cells using an Epilife culture medium under serum- and feeder-free conditions. METHODS Cadaveric donor limbal corneal epithelial cells were cultured on denuded amniotic membranes using an explant technique that was free of serum and feeder cells in the Epilife medium containing a growth supplement of defined c...

BACKGROUND REST is abundantly expressed in mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Many genome-wide analyses have found REST to be an integral part of the ESC pluripotency network. However, experimental systems have produced contradictory findings: (1) REST is required for the maintenance of ESC pluripotency and loss of REST causes increased expression of differentiation markers, (2) REST is not req...

Ectopic expression of transcription factors can reprogram somatic cells to a pluripotent state. However, most of the studies used skin fibroblasts as the starting population for reprogramming, which usually take weeks for expansion from a single biopsy. We show here that induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can be generated from adult human adipose stem cells (hASCs) freshly isolated from patie...

Although adipose tissue is an expandable and readily attainable source of proliferating, multipotent stem cells, its potential for use in regenerative medicine has not been extensively explored. Here we report that adult human and mouse adipose-derived stem cells can be reprogrammed to induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells with substantially higher efficiencies than those reported for human and ...

The biological activity of cell-derived substrates to maintain undifferentiated murine-induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells was correlated to membrane fluidity as a new parameter of cell culture substrates. Murine embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) were employed as feeder cells and their membrane fluidity was tuned by chemical fixation using formaldehyde (FA). Membrane fluidity was evaluated by real-...

Dysregulated sweat secretion can cause serious clinical problems. Experimentally regenerated human glands (hSWGs) should provide a valuable tool for dissection of hSWG biology and the pathophysiology sweating disturbance, and, ultimately drug discovery disorders; however, full establishment protocols bioengineering requires further endeavour. In this study, we attempted to establish methodology...