Soluble factors secreted by differentiating embryonic stem cells stimulate exogenous cell proliferation and migration.

INTRODUCTION: Stem cells are being investigated as catalysts of tissue regeneration to either directly replace or promote cellularity lost as a result of traumatic injury or degenerative disease. In many reports, despite low numbers of stably integrated cells, the transient presence of cells delivered or recruited to sites of tissue remodeling globally benefits functional recovery. Such findings have motivated the need to determine how paracrine factors secreted from transplanted cells may be capable of positively impacting endogenous repair processes and somatic cell responses. METHODS: Embryonic stem cells were differentiated as embryoid bodies (EBs) in vitro and media conditioned by EBs were collected at different intervals of time. Gene and protein expression analysis of several different growth factors secreted by EBs were examined by polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay analysis, respectively, as a function of time. The proliferation and migration of fibroblasts and endothelial cells treated with EB conditioned media was examined compared with unconditioned and growth media controls. RESULTS: The expression of several growth factors, including bone morphogenic protein-4, insulin-like growth factors and vascular endothelial growth factor-A, increased during the course of embryonic stem cell (ESC) differentiation as EBs. Conditioned media collected from EBs at different stages of differentiation stimulated proliferation and migration of both fibroblasts and endothelial cells, based on 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine incorporation and transwell assays, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, these results demonstrate that differentiating ESCs express increasing amounts of various growth factors over time that altogether are capable of stimulating mitogenic and motogenic activity of exogenous cell populations.

Fluid shear stress pre-conditioning promotes endothelial morphogenesis of embryonic stem cells within embryoid bodies.

Pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are capable of differentiating into all mesoderm-derived cell lineages, including endothelial, hematopoietic, and cardiac cell types. Common strategies to direct mesoderm differentiation of ESCs rely on exposing the cells to a series of biochemical and biophysical cues at different stages of differentiation to promote maturation toward specific cell phenotypes. Shear forces that mimic cardiovascular physiological forces can evoke a myriad of responses in somatic and stem cell populations, and have, thus, been studied as a means to direct stem cell differentiation. However, elucidating the effects of shear pre-conditioning on the subsequent vascular differentiation and morphogenesis of ESCs has yet to be examined. In this study, ESC monolayers were subjected to physiological shear (5 dyn/cm(2)) or static conditions for 2 days on collagen IV-coated substrates before initiating embryoid body (EB) differentiation. Immediately after the pre-conditioning period, shear pre-conditioned and statically cultured ESCs exhibited similar morphologies and largely retained a pluripotent phenotype; however, ESCs exposed to fluid shear expressed increased levels of endothelial marker genes Flk-1 (∼3-fold), VE-cadherin (∼3-fold), and PECAM (∼2-fold), compared with statically cultured ESCs. After 7 days of EB culture, ∼70% of EBs formed from shear pre-conditioned ESCs expressed significantly higher levels of endothelial marker genes compared with EBs formed from statically cultured ESCs. Interestingly, unlike EBs formed from statically cultured ESCs, EBs formed from fluid shear stress pre-conditioned ESCs exhibited a centrally localized region of VE-cadherin(+) cells that persisted for at least 10 days of differentiation. These results demonstrate that fluid shear stress pre-conditioning not only promotes ESC endothelial gene expression but also subsequently impacts the organization of endothelial cells within EBs. Together, these studies highlight a novel approach to promote in vitro morphogenesis of developmental vasculogenic models and potentially promote pre-vascularization of tissue-engineered constructs derived from pluripotent stem cells.

Adhesion strength-based, label-free isolation of human pluripotent stem cells.

We demonstrate substantial differences in 'adhesive signature' between human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), partially reprogrammed cells, somatic cells and hPSC-derived differentiated progeny. We exploited these differential adhesion strengths to rapidly (over ∼10 min) and efficiently isolate fully reprogrammed induced hPSCs (hiPSCs) as intact colonies from heterogeneous reprogramming cultures and from differentiated progeny using microfluidics. hiPSCs were isolated label free, enriched to 95%-99% purity with >80% survival, and had normal transcriptional profiles, differentiation potential and karyotypes. We also applied this strategy to isolate hPSCs (hiPSCs and human embryonic stem cells) during routine culture and show that it may be extended to isolate hPSC-derived lineage-specific stem cells or differentiated cells.

The search for biomarkers of human embryo developmental potential in IVF: a comprehensive proteomic approach.

The objective of these studies was to identify differentially expressed peptides/proteins in the culture media of embryos grown during in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment to establish their value as biomarkers predictive of implantation potential and live birth. Micro-droplets of embryo culture media from IVF patients (conditioned) and control media maintained under identical culture conditions were collected and frozen at -80°C on Days 2-3 of in vitro development prior to analysis. The embryos were transferred on Day 3. The peptides were affinity purified based on their physico-chemical properties and profiled by mass spectrometry for differential expression. The identified proteins were further characterized by western blot and ELISA, and absolute quantification was achieved by multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). We identified up to 14 differentially regulated peptides after capture using paramagnetic beads with different affinities. These differentially expressed peptides were used to generate genetic algorithms (GAs) with a recognition capability of 71-84% for embryo transfer cycles resulting in pregnancy and 75-89% for those with failed implantation. Several peptides were further identified as fragments of Apolipoprotein A-1, which showed consistent and significantly reduced expression in the embryo media samples from embryo transfer cycles resulting in viable pregnancies. Western blot and ELISA, as well as quantitative MRM results, were confirmatory. These results demonstrated that peptide/protein profiles from the culture medium during early human in vitro development can discriminate embryos with highest and lowest implantation competence following uterine transfer. Further prospective studies are needed to establish validated thresholds for clinical application.

Stiffening of human mesenchymal stem cell spheroid microenvironments induced by incorporation of gelatin microparticles.

Culturing multipotent adult mesenchymal stem cells as 3D aggregates augments their differentiation potential and paracrine activity. One caveat of stem cell spheroids, though, can be the limited diffusional transport barriers posed by the inherent 3D structure of the multicellular aggregates. In order to circumvent such limitations, polymeric microparticles have been incorporated into stem cell aggregates as a means to locally control the biochemical and physical properties of the 3D microenvironment. However, the introduction of biomaterials to the 3D stem cell microenvironment could alter the mechanical forces sensed by cells within aggregates, which in turn could impact various cell behaviors and overall spheroid mechanics. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the acute effects of biomaterial incorporation within mesenchymal stem cell spheroids on aggregate structure and mechanical properties. The results of this study demonstrate that although gelatin microparticle incorporation results in similar multi-cellular organization within human mesenchymal stem cell spheroids, the introduction of gelatin materials significantly impacts spheroid mechanical properties. The marked differences in spheroid mechanics induced by microparticle incorporation may hold major implications for in vitro directed differentiation strategies and offer a novel route to engineer the mechanical properties of tissue constructs ex vivo.

Histone h1 depletion impairs embryonic stem cell differentiation.

Pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are known to possess a relatively open chromatin structure; yet, despite efforts to characterize the chromatin signatures of ESCs, the role of chromatin compaction in stem cell fate and function remains elusive. Linker histone H1 is important for higher-order chromatin folding and is essential for mammalian embryogenesis. To investigate the role of H1 and chromatin compaction in stem cell pluripotency and differentiation, we examine the differentiation of embryonic stem cells that are depleted of multiple H1 subtypes. H1c/H1d/H1e triple null ESCs are more resistant to spontaneous differentiation in adherent monolayer culture upon removal of leukemia inhibitory factor. Similarly, the majority of the triple-H1 null embryoid bodies (EBs) lack morphological structures representing the three germ layers and retain gene expression signatures characteristic of undifferentiated ESCs. Furthermore, upon neural differentiation of EBs, triple-H1 null cell cultures are deficient in neurite outgrowth and lack efficient activation of neural markers. Finally, we discover that triple-H1 null embryos and EBs fail to fully repress the expression of the pluripotency genes in comparison with wild-type controls and that H1 depletion impairs DNA methylation and changes of histone marks at promoter regions necessary for efficiently silencing pluripotency gene Oct4 during stem cell differentiation and embryogenesis. In summary, we demonstrate that H1 plays a critical role in pluripotent stem cell differentiation, and our results suggest that H1 and chromatin compaction may mediate pluripotent stem cell differentiation through epigenetic repression of the pluripotency genes.

Magnetic manipulation and spatial patterning of multi-cellular stem cell aggregates.

The controlled assembly and organization of multi-cellular systems to mimic complex tissue structures is critical to the engineering of tissues for therapeutic and diagnostic applications. Recent advances in micro-scale technologies to control multi-cellular aggregate formation typically require chemical modification of the interface between cells and materials and lack multi-scale flexibility. Here we demonstrate that simple physical entrapment of magnetic microparticles within the extracellular space of stem cells spheroids during initial formation enables scaffold-free immobilization, translocation and directed assembly of multi-cellular aggregates across multiple length and time scales, even under dynamic suspension culture conditions. The response of aggregates to externally applied magnetic fields was a direct function of microparticle incorporation, allowing for rapid and transient control of the extracellular environment as well as separation of heterogeneous populations. In addition, spatial patterning of heterogeneous spheroid populations as well as individual multi-cellular aggregates was readily achieved by imposing temporary magnetic fields. Overall, this approach provides novel routes to examine stem cell differentiation and tissue morphogenesis with applications that encompass the creation of new model systems for developmental biology, scaffold-free tissue engineering strategies and scalable bioprocessing technologies.