ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2013, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (11): 1749-1757.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2013.11.008

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Study on Differentiation of Chicken Embryonic Stem Cells to Male Germ Cells by BMP4

SHI Qing-qing, ZHANG Zhen-tao, LI Peng-cheng, ZHENG Meng-meng, WANG Dan, HUANG Xiao-mei, ZHANG Ya-ni, LI Bi-chun*   

  1. (Key Laboratory of Animal Breeding Reproduction and Molecular Design for Jiangsu Province,College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China)
  • Received:2013-02-24 Online:2013-11-23 Published:2013-11-23

Abstract:

This study investigated the effect of BMP4 on differentiation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) to male germ cells. Adherent monolayer culture system was used as a differentiation mode, maleness ESCs were cultured in concentrations of 10,20,30,40 ng·mL-1 BMP4 to differentiate toward a germ cell lineage. The induced effects were detected by morphology, quantitative polymerase chain reaction(qPCR) and immunocytochemistry. According to the changes in cell morphology and the expression of differential genes, 40 ng·mL-1 was identified as the suitable concentration of BMP4 on differentiation. During the induction with 40 ng·mL-1 BMP4, embryoid bodies(EBs) began to appear in 4 d and gradually increased in both size and number in 6-8 d, subsequently some of EBs began to disintegrate into small round cells in 10 d, then a small number of germ cell-like cells could be observed in 12 d, and the number increased in 14 d. The expression of corresponding genes also changed during the induction: the expression level of the ESCs marker genes Nanog, Sox2 decreased significantly (P<0.01), while the expression levels of germ cell-specific genes Stra8, Dazl, integrinα6, c-kit all showed a significant upward trend (P<0.01). BMP4 can promote the expression of the corresponding genes of the germ cells, and has an effect on differentiation of ESCs to male germ cells. The result provides references for differentiation on male germ cells in vitro and theoretical foundation for studying cytogenesis and regulatory mechanism of male germ cells.

CLC Number: