Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3

Canonical Wnt/[beta]-catenin signaling has been suggested to promote self-renewal of pluripotent mouse and human embryonic stem cells. Here, we show that SB-216763, a glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3) inhibitor, can maintain mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) in a pluripotent state in the absence of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPloS one Vol. 7; no. 6; p. e39329
Main Authors Kirby, Leslie A, Schott, Jason T, Noble, Brenda L, Mendez, Daniel C, Caseley, Paul S, Peterson, Sarah C, Routledge, Tyler J, Patel, Nilay V
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Public Library of Science 26.06.2012
Subjects
Comparative analysis
Embryonic stem cells
Glycogen
Glycogen synthesis
Leukemia
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Summary:Canonical Wnt/[beta]-catenin signaling has been suggested to promote self-renewal of pluripotent mouse and human embryonic stem cells. Here, we show that SB-216763, a glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3) inhibitor, can maintain mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) in a pluripotent state in the absence of exogenous leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) when cultured on mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs). MESCs maintained with SB-216763 for one month were morphologically indistinguishable from LIF-treated mESCs and expressed pluripotent-specific genes Oct4, Sox2, and Nanog. Furthermore, Nanog immunostaining was more homogenous in SB-216763-treated colonies compared to LIF. Embryoid bodies (EBs) prepared from these mESCs expressed early-stage markers for all three germ layers, and could efficiently differentiate into cardiac-like cells and MAP2-immunoreactive neurons. To our knowledge, SB-216763 is the first GSK3 inhibitor that can promote self-renewal of mESC co-cultured with MEFs for more than two months.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0039329