product categories

for undifferentiated ES cells
for in vitro differentiation
ES-screened support products

background

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are pluripotent cells derived from the inner cell mass of day 3.5 blastocysts. They can be maintained in vitro for extended periods without loss of their capacity to contribute to all cell lineages when reimplanted back into a blastocyst.1,2 The pluripotency of ES cells, combined with their ease of genetic manipulation and selection, has revolutionized gene function studies in vivo via the generation of transgenic, chimeric and knockout mice.3-8 ES cells are maintained in an undifferentiated state in vitro by precise and defined culture conditions in the presence of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF). Upon withdrawal of LIF, ES cells differentiate into complex structures called embryoid bodies (EBs) that contain cells from each of the three germ layers: endoderm, ectoderm, and mesoderm. These cells can subsequently be induced to differentiate into a variety of cell types9,10 including pancreatic,11neural,12-17 hematopoietic,18-20 cardiomyocytes,21-24 adipocytes,25 epithelial,26 endothelial,27-31 lymphoid cells,32-36 and osteoblasts.37 ES in vitro differentiation provides a unique and powerful system to examine cellular and molecular processes, perform drug screening, and to investigate potential tissue engineering and cellular therapy applications.

For more information, refer to Mini-Review on mouse ES cells.

reagents available for:

Growth and maintenance of germline competent ES cells for the generation of chimeric and transgenic mice
Growth and maintenance of undifferentiated ES cells for in vitro differentiation to hematopoietic, pancreatic, endothelial and neural lineages
Formation of EBs in primary methylcellulose cultures
Formation of EBs in liquid suspension cultures
Disaggregation of EBs
Cytokine-directed generation of hematopoietic colonies in methylcellulose cultures
Production of insulin-secreting pancreatic islet-like clusters
Production of a variety of neural cell types including neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes

quality control

All ES-Cult?reagents are screened and extensively pre-tested for optimal ES cell performance.

All lots of serum are performance tested with an ES cell line to ensure:

Optimum growth rates
No toxicity even at high (30%) serum concentrations
High cloning efficiency at low cell densities
Maintenance of undifferentiated ES colony morphology (FBS 06902/06952)
The ability to maintain undifferentiated ES cells for generation of chimeric and transgenic mice (FBS 06902/06952)
Maintenance of a high hematopoietic differentiation potential (FBS 06902/06952)
Efficient two-step in vitro differentiation into hematopoietic colonies (FBS 06900/06950)
Efficient embryoid body formation in liquid suspension cultures (FBS 06905/06955)

ES-Cult?methylcellulose-based media is extensively pre-tested to ensure it supports efficient generation of embryoid bodies and hematopoietic progenitors in a two-step in vitro differentiation assay.

All other ES-Cult?media, supplements and accessories are carefully pre-screened in ES cell maintenance and/or differentiation assays.

applications

Analysis of gene expression patterns during embryonic development and differentiation
Provides ideal model systems for the generation of specifc cell types for potential therapeutic approaches
Creation of genetically modified ES cells (knockout, transgenic, antisense) for functional studies
Evaluation of the effects of external stimuli on developmental processes
Identification of novel developmentally regulated genes using gene trap, degenerate PCR, or RNA subtraction techniques