(英文)
3.3.2 Differentiation potential in vivo.
Bone marrow spheres and ES cells were transplanted subcutaneously into immune deficient mice to examine their tumor-initiating capacity. As a result, after 6 weeks ES cells formed a tumor. Spheres did not form tumor as big as ES cells did. We concluded that the proliferative potential of sphere cells was much weaker than that of ES cells (Fig. 13).
Next, we investigated if transplanted cells differentiated in vivo after transplantation. Transplanted cells were harvested after 6 weeks, and processed for immunohistochemical analyses. According to results of immunohistochemical analyses, spheres differentiated into tissues derived from three germ layers in vivo (Fig. 14).
