Establishment and characterization of novel porcine embryonic stem cell lines expressing hrGFP

Research progress and application prospects of stable porcine pluripotent stem cells

Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) harbor the capacity of unlimited self-renewal and multi-lineage differentiation potential which are crucial for basic research and biomedical science. Establishment of PSCs with defined features were previously reported from mice and humans, while generation of stable large animal PSCs has experienced a relatively long trial stage and only recently has made breakthroughs. Pigs are regarded as ideal animal models for their similarities in physiology and anatomy to humans. Generation of porcine PSCs would provide cell resources for basic research, genetic engineering, animal breeding and cultured meat. In this review, we summarize the progress on the derivation of porcine PSCs and reprogrammed cells and elucidate the mechanisms of pluripotency changes during pig embryo development. This will be beneficial for understanding the divergence and conservation between different species involved in embryo development and the pluripotent regulated signaling pathways. Finally, we also discuss the promising future applications of stable porcine PSCs.

The use of induced pluripotent stem cells in domestic animals: a narrative review

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are undifferentiated stem cells characterized by the ability to differentiate into any cell type in the body. iPSCs are a relatively new and rapidly developing technology in many fields of biology, including developmental anatomy and physiology, pathology, and toxicology. These cells have great potential in research as they are self-renewing and pluripotent with minimal ethical concerns. Protocols for their production have been developed for many domestic animal species, which have since been used to further our knowledge in the progression and treatment of diseases. This research is valuable both for veterinary medicine as well as for the prospect of translation to human medicine. Safety, cost, and feasibility are potential barriers for this technology that must be considered before widespread clinical adoption. This review will analyze the literature pertaining to iPSCs derived from various domestic species with a focus on iPSC production and characterization, applications for tissue and disease research, and applications for disease treatment.

Livestock pluripotency is finally captured in vitro

Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) have demonstrated great utility in improving our understanding of mammalian development and continue to revolutionise regenerative medicine. Thanks to the improved understanding of pluripotency in mice and humans, it has recently become feasible to generate stable livestock PSCs. Although it is unlikely that livestock PSCs will be used for similar applications as their murine and human counterparts, new exciting applications that could greatly advance animal agriculture are being developed, including the use of PSCs for complex genome editing, cellular agriculture, gamete generation and invitro breeding schemes.

Porcine-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived osteoblast-like cells ameliorate trabecular bone mass of osteoporotic rats

AIM

We created rat models of osteoporosis and verified a novel idea to recover bone mass via local cell transplantation.

MATERIALS & METHODS

The rats were treated with ovariectomy, 0.1% calcium diet or 3 mg/kg body weight/day of prednisolone and porcine-induced pluripotent stem cell (piPSC)-derived osteoblast-like cells were transplanted into the medullary cavity of the left femurs.

RESULTS

The piPSC-derived osteoblast-like cells exerted therapeutic potential on prednisolone treatment group, which confirmed by improvements in trabecular bone volume (15.93 ± 2.20%), bone surface/volume ratio (27.82 ± 1.40 1/mm), thickness (1.40 ± 0.01 mm), separation (0.99 ± 0.10 mm), number (1.13 ± 0.13 1/mm) and total porosity (84.06 ± 2.20%).

CONCLUSION

These results first uncovered therapeutic potential of xenotransplantation with piPSCs for glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis treatment in the rat models.

Effects of Klf4 and c-Myc Knockdown on Pluripotency Maintenance in Porcine Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell

Objective

The importance of Oct4 and Sox2 in maintaining pluripotency and self-renewal is well-understood, but the functions of Klf4 and c-Myc has not been fully investigated. In the present study, we attempted to determine the roles of Klf4 and c-Myc on pluripotency maintenance of porcine induced pluripotent stem (piPS) cells.

Materials and Methods

In this experimental study, we performed short hairpin RNA (shRNA) to knock down the Klf4 and c-Myc functions of piPS cells and examined pluripotency markers and teratoma formation to evaluate piPS cell pluripotency. The shRNA-Klf4 and shRNA-c-Myc vectors containing a reporter gene, TagFP635, were transfected into piPS cells by lentivirus infection. The piPS cells fully expressing infrared fluorescence were selected to confirm gene knockdown of Klf4 and c-Myc reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Next, for pluripotency evaluation, expression of pluripotency markers was detected by immunocytochemical staining, and capability of teratoma formation was investigated by piPS cell transplantation into nonobese diabetic-severe combined immunodeficiency (NOD-SCID) mice.

Results

Our findings indicated that Klf4 and c-Myc functions of piPS cells were knocked down by shRNA transfection, and knockdown of Klf4 and c-Myc functions impaired expression of pluripotency markers such as Oct4, AP, SSEA-3, SSEA-4, TRA-1-6, and TRA-1-81. Furthermore, piPS cells without Klf4 and c-Myc expression failed to form teratomas.

Conclusion

The pluripotency of piPS cells are crucially dependent upon Klf4 and c-Myc expression. These findings, suggesting potential mechanisms of Klf4 and c-Myc contribution to piPS cell formation, have important implications for application, regulation, and tumorigenesis of piPS cells.

Porcine Pluripotent Stem Cells Derived from IVF Embryos Contribute to Chimeric Development In Vivo

Although the pig is considered an important model of human disease and an ideal animal for the preclinical testing of cell transplantation, the utility of this model has been hampered by a lack of genuine porcine embryonic stem cells. Here, we derived a porcine pluripotent stem cell (pPSC) line from day 5.5 blastocysts in a newly developed culture system based on MXV medium and a 5% oxygen atmosphere. The pPSCs had been passaged more than 75 times over two years, and the morphology of the colony was similar to that of human embryonic stem cells. Characterization and assessment showed that the pPSCs were alkaline phosphatase (AKP) positive, possessed normal karyotypes and expressed classic pluripotent markers, including OCT4, SOX2 and NANOG. In vitro differentiation through embryonic body formation and in vivo differentiation via teratoma formation in nude mice demonstrated that the pPSCs could differentiate into cells of the three germ layers. The pPSCs transfected with fuw-DsRed (pPSC-FDs) could be passaged with a stable expression of both DsRed and pluripotent markers. Notably, when pPSC-FDs were used as donor cells for somatic nuclear transfer, 11.52% of the reconstructed embryos developed into blastocysts, which was not significantly different from that of the reconstructed embryos derived from porcine embryonic fibroblasts. When pPSC-FDs were injected into day 4.5 blastocysts, they became involved in the in vitro embryonic development and contributed to the viscera of foetuses at day 50 of pregnancy as well as the developed placenta after the chimeric blastocysts were transferred into recipients. These findings indicated that the pPSCs were porcine pluripotent cells; that this would be a useful cell line for porcine genetic engineering and a valuable cell line for clarifying the molecular mechanism of pluripotency regulation in pigs.

Putative porcine embryonic stem cell lines derived from aggregated four-celled cloned embryos produced by oocyte bisection cloning

We attempted to isolate ES cell lines using inner cell masses from high-quality cloned porcine blastocysts. After being seeded onto feeders, embryos had better (P < 0.05) attachment, outgrowth formation and primary colonization in both 2× and 3× aggregated cloned embryos (62.8, 42.6 and12.8% vs. 76.2, 55.2 and 26.2%, respectively) compared to the non-aggregated group (41.6, 23.4 and 3.9%). Effects of feeder types (STO vs. MEF) and serum sources (FBS vs. KSR) on extraction of cloned embryo-derived porcine ES cells were examined. More (17.1%) ntES cell lines over Passage 3 were generated in the MEF/KSR group. However, ntES cells cultured in KSR-supplemented medium had a low proliferation rate with defective morphology, and eventually underwent differentiation or apoptosis subsequently. Approximately 26.1, 22.7 and 35.7% of primary colonies were formed after plating embryos in DMEM, DMEM/F12 and α-MEM media, respectively. Survival rates of ntES cells cultured in α-MEM, DMEM and DMEM/F12 were 16.7, 4.3 and 6.8%, respectively (P > 0.05). We further examined the beneficial effect of TSA treatment of 3× aggregated cloned embryos on establishment of ntES cell lines. Primary colony numbers and survival rates of ntES cells beyond passage 3 were higher (P < 0.05) in those derived from TSA-treated 3× blastocysts (36.7 and 26.7%) than from the non-treated aggregated group (23.1 and 11.5%). These cells, remaining undifferentiated over 25 passages, had alkaline phosphatase activity and expressed ES specific markers Oct4, Nanog, Sox2, and Rex01. Moreover, these ntES cells successfully differentiated into embryoid bodies (EBs) that expressed specific genes of all three germ layers after being cultured in LIF-free medium. In conclusion, we have successfully derived putative porcine ntES cells with high efficiency from quality cloned embryos produced by embryo aggregation, and optimized the ES cell culture system suitable for establishing and maintaining ntES cell lines in undifferentiated state.

In vitro development of porcine transgenic nuclear-transferred embryos derived from newborn Guangxi Bama mini-pig kidney fibroblasts

Porcine transgenic cloning has potential applications for improving production traits and for biomedical research purposes. To produce a transgenic clone, kidney fibroblasts from a newborn Guangxi Bama mini-pig were isolated, cultured, and then transfected with red and green fluorescent protein genes using lipofectamine for nuclear transfer. The results of the present study show that the kidney fibroblasts exhibited excellent proliferative capacity and clone-like morphology, and were adequate for generation of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT)-derived embryos, which was confirmed by their cleavage activity and blastocyst formation rate of 70.3% and 7.9%, respectively. Cells transfected with red fluorescent protein genes could be passed more than 35 times. Transgenic embryos cloned with fluorescent or blind enucleation methods were not significantly different with respect to cleavage rates (92.5% vs. 86.8%, p > 0.05) and blastocyst-morula rates (26.9% vs. 34.0%, p > 0.05), but were significantly different with respect to blastocyst rates (3.0% vs. 13.2%, p < 0.05). Cleavage (75.3%, 78.5% vs. 78.0%, p > 0.05), blastocyst (14.1%, 16.1% vs. 23.1%, p > 0.05) and morula/blastocyst rates (43.5%, 47.0% vs. 57.6%, p > 0.05) were not significantly different between the groups of transgenic cloned embryos, cloned embryos, and parthenogenetic embryos. This indicates that long-time screening by G418 caused no significant damage to kidney fibroblasts. Thus, kidney fibroblasts represent a promising new source for transgenic SCNT, and this work lays the foundation for the production of genetically transformed cloned Guangxi Bama mini-pigs.

Epigenetic changes of lentiviral transgenes in porcine stem cells derived from embryonic origin

Because of the physiological and immunological similarities that exist between pigs and humans, porcine pluripotent cell lines have been identified as important candidates for preliminary studies on human disease as well as a source for generating transgenic animals. Therefore, the establishment and characterization of porcine embryonic stem cells (pESCs), along with the generation of stable transgenic cell lines, is essential. In this study, we attempted to efficiently introduce transgenes into Epiblast stem cell (EpiSC)-like pESCs. Consequently, a pluripotent cell line could be derived from a porcine-hatched blastocyst. Enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) was successfully introduced into the cells via lentiviral vectors under various multiplicities of infection, with pluripotency and differentiation potential unaffected after transfection. However, EGFP expression gradually declined during extended culture. This silencing effect was recovered by in vitro differentiation and treatment with 5-azadeoxycytidine. This phenomenon was related to DNA methylation as determined by bisulfite sequencing. In conclusion, we were able to successfully derive EpiSC-like pESCs and introduce transgenes into these cells using lentiviral vectors. This cell line could potentially be used as a donor cell source for transgenic pigs and may be a useful tool for studies involving EpiSC-like pESCs as well as aid in the understanding of the epigenetic regulation of transgenes.

Transplantation of porcine embryonic stem cells and their derived neuronal progenitors in a spinal cord injury rat model

BACKGROUND AIMS

The purpose of this study was to investigate therapeutic potential of green fluorescent protein expressing porcine embryonic stem (pES/GFP(+)) cells in A rat model of spinal cord injury (SCI).

METHODS

Undifferentiated pES/GFP(+) cells and their neuronal differentiation derivatives were transplanted into the contused spinal cord of the Long Evans rat, and in situ development of the cells was determined by using a live animal fluorescence optical imaging system every 15 days. After pES/GFP(+) cell transplantation, the behavior functional recovery of the SCI rats was assessed with the Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan Locomotor Rating Scale (BBB scale), and the growth and differentiation of the grafted pES/GFP(+) cells in the SCI rats were analyzed by immunohistochemical staining.

RESULTS

The relative green fluorescent protein expression level was decreased for 3 months after transplantation. The pES/GFP(+)-derived cells positively stained with neural specific antibodies of anti-NFL, anti-MBP, anti-SYP and anti-Tuj 1 were detected at the transplanted position. The SCI rats grafted with the D18 neuronal progenitors showed a significant functional recovery of hindlimbs and exhibited the highest BBB scale score of 15.20 ± 1.43 at week 24. The SCI rats treated with pES/GFP(+)-derived neural progenitors demonstrated a better functional recovery.

CONCLUSIONS

Transplantation of porcine embryonic stem (pES)-derived D18 neuronal progenitors has treatment potential for SCI, and functional behavior improvement of grafted pES-derived cells in SCI model rats suggests the potential for further application of pES cells in the study of replacement medicine and functionally degenerative pathologies.