Expression of Renal Genes in Mouse Embryonic Stem Cell Co-cultured with Fetal Renal cells

摘要

Embryonic stem(ES) cells co-cultured with different embryonic organic cells could differentiate into a broad spectrum of specialized cell types, including hepatocyte, cardiomyocyte and alveolar epithelial type II cell types. Such ES cells-derived cells can provide a valuable source of progenitor cell types, and could be a new source for cell transplantation. Here we imitate the embryonic kidney development microenvironment by co-culture the mouse ES cells with fetal renal cells, and the treated ES cells were detected expressing marker molecules characteristic for initiation of nephrogenesis (WT-1,emx-2and Wnt-4) and terminally differentiated renal cell types (podocalyxin,Nephl and RSOR). On the other side, the gene expressions of Oct-4, Nanog and Klf-4 were obviously depressed, which are associated with the ES cells' capacity to differentiate into all kinds of cells. In summary, the fetal renal microenvironment may lead the ES cells differentiate toward a renal lineage, especially the renal ancester cells, and such in vitro–generated cells may be very useful for the development of bioartificial organs or cell-based therapies in chronic or acute renal failure.