DMSO efficiently down regulates pluripotency genes in human embryonic stem cells during definitive endoderm derivation and increases the proficiency of hepatic differentiation.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Definitive endoderm (DE) is one of the three germ layers which during in vivo vertebrate development gives rise to a variety of organs including liver, lungs, thyroid and pancreas; consequently efficient in vitro initiation of stem cell differentiation to DE cells is a prerequisite for successful cellular specification to subsequent DE-derived cell types [1, 2]. In this study we present a novel approach to rapidly and efficiently down regulate pluripotency genes during initiation of differentiation to DE cells by addition of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) to Activin A-based culture medium and report its effects on the downstream differentiation to hepatocyte-like cells.

Materials and methods

Human embryonic stem cells (hESC) were differentiated to DE using standard met

SUBMITTER: Czysz K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4320104 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature