After creating
stem cell aggregates with microparticles containing different growth factors, the researchers observed a hemispherical organization of cells for several days, with the different cells remaining spatially segregated.
Not exact matches
The
cells aggregate and return to a
stem cell - like state to allow them to increase in numbers and generate the specialised
cells needed for new tissue formation
«We found that the worms and human
cells were almost completely protected from the Huntington's
aggregates when we turned on this response,» said Andrew Dillin, the Thomas and Stacey Siebel Distinguished Chair in
Stem Cell Research in UC Berkeley's Department of Molecular and
Cell Biology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.
Groups of
stem cells stick together as they develop, forming multicellular
aggregates that form spheroids as they grow.
«We can then put the microparticle materials physically inside the multicellular
aggregate system that we use for differentiation of the
stem cells.
The research builds on the team's previous work with a technique called three - dimensional culture, which involves incubating
stem cells in a floating ball - shaped
aggregate, unlike traditional
cell culture in which
cells grow in a flat layer on the surface of a culture dish.
Researchers are now reporting advances in these areas by using gelatin - based microparticles to deliver growth factors to specific areas of embryoid bodies,
aggregates of differentiating
stem cells.
In the past, scientists have tried to isolate so - called auditory
stem cells from embryoid bodie —
aggregates of
stem cells that have begun to differentiate into different types.
New research suggests that changes to the metabolic profile of
aggregated hMSCs enhance
stem cell characteristics
Current efforts, mostly conducted in animal models, involve attempting to derive and
aggregate embryonic
stem cells, exposing them to such factors as acetic acid, allowing them to differentiate, or specialize, and then sorting through these
cells to extract the
cell types of interest.
This finding complements previous research from the University of Edinburgh and the National Institute for Medical Research which showed that embryonic
stem cells can be coaxed into this spinal cord
cells; however, the Cambridge researchers showed that the in the embryo - like
aggregates, the structural organization is more robust and allows for the polarised growth of the tissue.
Over the years researchers have been making
aggregates of embryonic
stem cells to obtain certain
cell types, for example red blood
cells.
Embryoid bodies (EB) are the three - dimensional
aggregates formed in suspension by pluripotent
stem cells (PSC), including embryonic
stem cells (ESC) and induced pluripotent
stem cells (iPSC).