Characterization of gastrulation-stage progenitor cells and their inhibitory crosstalk in human embryoid bodies

Oded Kopper, Odil Giladi, Tamar Golan-Lev, Nissim Benvenisty*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

Human embryoid bodies (HEBs) are cell aggregates that are produced during the course of embryonic stem cell differentiation in suspension. Mature HEBs have been shown to contain derivatives of the three embryonic germ layers. In this study, using a combination of laser capture microscopy followed by DNA microarray analysis and cell sorting, we demonstrate that early HEBs are composed of three major cell populations. These cell populations can be defined by the expression of specific cell markers, namely: (i) OCT4+, REX1-; (ii) NCAD+, OCT4-; and (iii) EPOR +, OCT4-. By analyzing gene expression in embryonic tissues, these cell populations could respectively be assigned to the embryonic ectoderm, mesendoderm, and extraembryonic endoderm lineages. We show that the extraembryonic endoderm, which selectively expresses platelet-derived growth factor B (PDGF-B), negatively affects the mesendoderm lineage, which selectively expresses the receptor PDGFRA. Our analysis suggests that early HEBs are spatially patterned and that cell differentiation is governed by interactions between the different cell types.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)75-83
Number of pages9
JournalStem Cells
Volume28
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2010

Keywords

  • Embryogenesis
  • Human embryoid bodies
  • Human embryonic stem cells
  • Progenitor cells

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