Signaling pathways in mouse embryo stem cell self-renewal
Date
2011Author
Quinlan, Leo
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Quinlan LR (2011) 'Signaling Pathways in Mouse Embryo Stem Cell Self-Renewal' In: Kallos(Eds.). Embryonic Stem Cells - Basic Biology to Bioengineering. Croatia : In Tech.
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Abstract
At the pre-implantation blastocyst stage of development, the mammalian embryo is
composed of a unique collection of cells of which three major populations predominate. The
outermost layer the trophectoderm (TE) gives rise to the placenta, which acts to sustain the
developing fetus connecting it to the mother host. The next is a cluster of cells known as the
inner cell mass (ICM) these cells are said to be pluripotent (Fig. 1). A third group of cells
known as the primitive endoderm, surrounds the ICM cells at the epiblast stage. As
development proceeds the ICM cells rapidly divide and eventually begin to differentiate
forming the three embryonic germ layers (ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm). Effectively
these pluripotent ICM cells are the precursors of all adult tissues. As these pluripotent cells
commit to a specific cellular lineage, they lose their pluripotency. Embryonic stem (ES) cells
are euploid pluripotent cell lines isolated directly from cultured preimplantation embryos.
The first stable ES cell lines were isolated by immunosurgery from the ICM of implantation-
delayed, mouse blastocysts (Martin, 1981; Evans and Kaufman, 1981). Mouse ES cells are
very closely related to early ICM cells in terms of their developmental potential (Beddington
and Robertson, 1989). This chapter will focus on mouse ES cells (mES) unless otherwise
stated. Three features characterize mES cells;