单细胞技术在干细胞研究中的应用

Applications of Single Cell Technologies in Stem Cell Research

干细胞是具有自我更新和分化潜能的异质性细胞群体。基于细胞群体水平的干细胞研究不能满足深入认识干细胞生物学本质及实际应用的需要。近年来,单细胞相关技术不断发展和成熟,并正在干细胞基础研究及其相关领域中获得迅速应用。该文以造血干细胞为主要例举,就实验研究中常用的单细胞分离、单细胞克隆分析、单细胞移植、单细胞实时定量PCR及单细胞测序等技术原理及其应用进行综述。

Stem cells are a heterogeneous cell population characterized by their ability of self-renewal and differentiation. Stem cell research at the cell population level can not meet the demand for further understanding the biology and its applications. Recently, the single cell-based technologies are rapidly applied and advanced in stem cell and related studies. This review highlights the current technologies on single cell separation, single cell clonal assay, single cell transplantation, single cell real-time PCR and single cell sequencing with an emphasis on their ap- plications, as exemplified in hematopoietic stem cell research.