title: Serum-free culture of rhesus monkey embryonic stem cells.
abstract: Previous studies have shown that the maintenance and proliferation of undifferentiated rhesus monkey embryonic stem (rES) cells requires medium supplemented with fetal bovine serum (FBS). Due to the uncharacterized composition and variation in serum nature, the present study aimed to replace the serum-containing medium with a serum-free medium in the rES cell culture. The results showed that after the initial 48-h culture in the routinely used serum-containing medium, rES cells can grow and proliferate for a prolonged period in the serum-free medium composed of DMEM supplemented with a cocktail of BSA, IGF-1, TGF-alpha, bFGF, aFGF, estradiol, and progesterone. rES cells cultured in the serum-free medium maintained high level of alkaline phosphatase activity and OCT4 level. There was no indication of differentiation as judged by the marker gene expression of all three embryonic germ layers and trophoblast. In addition, serum-free culture would not affect the passage capacity and differentiation potential of rES cells. This work will facilitate the future study of induced differentiation of rES cells and other applications.
authors.affiliation: Kunming Institute of Zoology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pei
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ji
mesh_terms: D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D002460:Cell Line; D016895:Culture Media, Serum-Free; D005819:Genetic Markers / Q000235:genetics; D008253:Macaca mulatta / Q000502:physiology*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D039901:Totipotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000201:enzymology
chemical_list: D016895:Culture Media, Serum-Free; D005819:Genetic Markers; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase