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Stem Cells from Early Mammalian Embryos

Common Themes and Significant Differences

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Stem Cells Handbook

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Abstract

A description of the potential of cells during embryonic development indicates that the first restriction of the totipoten-tiality in the zygote occurs during formation of the blastocyst when the outer layer of cells forms the trophectoderm, which will give rise to the placenta, and the inner cells form the inner cell mass (ICM), which will develop into the fetus and fetal membranes. At this point, the ICM cells lose the ability to form trophectoderm and are considered pluripotent in that they can form all the cells of the body of the embryo, but not the placenta. A population of pluripotent cells persists for several days, but later in development, pluripotency is limited to the primordial germ cells (PGCs), which will eventually give rise to the gametes. A variety of methods have been devised to harness the stem cell capacity of early embryo-derived cells in vitro. Historically, mouse teratocarcinoma stem cells and embryonal carcinoma stem cells were the first to be derived. They were isolated from spontaneously occurring germ cell tumors or from tumors derived from embryo ectopic expiants, respectively. They can be propagated indefinitely in vitro and have the capacity to differentiate into many cell types. More recently, three stem cell types have been isolated directly from the early embryo, without the intervening tumor growth: embryonic stem (ES) cells from the ICM of the blastocyst, trophectoderm stem (TS) cells from the trophectoderm of the blastocyst or the extraembryonic ectoderm, and embryonic germ (EG) cells from the PGCs. ES cells and EG cells are similar in their pluripotency and capacity for indefinite self-renewal, whereas TS cells have a more restricted developmental potential. No truly totipotent stem cell line has yet been derived, but the phenotype of ES lines can be changed to TS under appropriate culture conditions, indicating that transdifferentiation is possible. Recently, ES and EG cell lines, which share many but not all of the characteristics of mouse stem cell lines, have been derived from human embryos.

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Authors
  1. Virginia E. Papaioannou PhD
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  2. Anna-Katerina Hadjantonakis PhD
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Wadsworth Center and Ordway Research Institute, Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY, USA

    Stewart Sell MD

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Papaioannou, V.E., Hadjantonakis, AK. (2004). Stem Cells from Early Mammalian Embryos. In: Sell, S. (eds) Stem Cells Handbook. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-411-5_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-411-5_2

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-61737-367-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-411-5

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