胚胎干细胞体外分化研究进展

Progresses on Differentiation of Embryonic Stem Cells

胚胎干细胞是来源于胚胎的、内细胞团的、具有多向分化潜能的细胞。随着胚胎干细胞,特别是分化机制研究的不断深入,胚胎干细胞分化为各种类型细胞的研究也取得了较大进展,从而为细胞移植、细胞治疗和组织工程等提供了一个新的途径。主要综述了小鼠和人胚胎干细胞向内、中、外三个胚层细胞类型分化的技术,以期为胚胎干细胞定向诱导分化的研究提供一些参考。

Embryonic stem cells （ESC） are stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of an early stage embryo known as a blastocyst, which are pluripotent and able to differentiate into all derivatives of the three primary germ layers named ectoderm, endoderm, and mesoderm. With the ESCs researches, the mechanisms of ESCs differentiated into various types of cells have made great progresses, which have provided a new way for cell transplantation, cell therapy and tissue engineering. The techniques of mouse and human ESCs developing into ceils of all germ layers （endoderm, ectoderm, and mesoderm） were summarized so as to provide some references for researchers.