title: Maintenance of undifferentiated mouse embryonic stem cells in suspension by the serum- and feeder-free defined culture condition.
abstract: The proven pluripotency of ES cells is expected to allow their therapeutic use for regenerative medicine. We present here a novel suspension culture method that facilitates the proliferation of pluripotent ES cells without feeder cells. The culture medium contains polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), free of either animal-derived or synthetic serum, and contains very low amounts of peptidic or proteinaceous materials, which are favorable for therapeutic use. ES cells showed sustained proliferation in the suspension culture, and their undifferentiated state and pluripotency were experimentally verified. DNA microarray analyses showed a close relationship between the elevated expression of genes related to cell adhesions. We suggest that this suspension culture condition provides a better alternative to the conventional attached cell culture condition, especially for possible therapeutic use, by limiting the exposure of ES cells to feeder cells and animal products.
authors.affiliation: Department of Tissue and Organ Development Regeneration and Advanced Medical Science, Gifu University Graduate School of Medicine, Gifu City, Gifu, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tsuji
authors.forename: Yukiiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tsuji
authors.forename: Naoko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yoshimura
authors.forename: Hitomi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aoki
authors.forename: Alexei A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Sharov
authors.forename: Minoru S H
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Motohashi
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kunisada
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001757:Blastomeres / Q000166:cytology; D001798:Blood Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D002460:Cell Line; D002678:Chimera; D003470:Culture Media / Q000494:pharmacology*; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D008544:Melanocytes / Q000166:cytology; D051379:Mice; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000166:cytology
chemical_list: D001798:Blood Proteins; D003470:Culture Media