Embryology Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Embryology, including details on stem cells, reproduction, transplants, cloning.

Passage number affects the pluripotency of mouse embryonic stem cells as judged by tetraploid embryo aggregation.

Li XY, Jia Q, Di KQ, Gao SM, Wen XH, Zhou RY, Wei W, Wang LZ

College of Animal Science and Technology, Agricultural University of Hebei, Baoding, Hebei 071001, People's Republic of China. xiangyun_li@yahoo.com.cn

The aim of this study was to determine whether the number of passages affected the developmental pluripotency of embryonic stem (ES) cells as measured by the attainment of adult fertile mice derived from embryonic stem (ES) cell/tetraploid embryo complementation. Thirty-six newborns were produced by the aggregation of tetraploid embryos and hybrid ES cells after various numbers of passages. These newborns were entirely derived from ES cells as judged by microsatellite DNA, coat-color phenotype, and germline transmission. Although 15 survived to adulthood, 17 died of respiratory failure, and four were eaten by their foster mother. From the 15 mice that reached adulthood and that could reproduce, none arose from ES cells at passage level 15 or more. All 15 arose from cells at passages 3-11. Our results demonstrate that the number of passages affects the developmental pluripotency of ES cells.

Published 8 February 2007 in Cell Tissue Res, 327(3): 607-14.
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