Endocrine Abstracts

Mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells are pluripotent cells derived from preimplantation embryo. In culture these cells can differentiate into a broad variety of cell types, such as nerve, muscle heart, blood cells and islet cells. This capacity for multilineage differentiation is retained during genetic manipulation and in vitro propagation. This has stimulated interest in the isolation of analogous cells of human origin. Such human pluripotent cells would constitute a renewable source of normal cells that could be employed in pharmaceutical and toxicological screening. They also offer hope of developing effective treatments for a range of human diseases.

We have previously developed a genetic selection strategy by targeting a selection marker/reporter into lineage and/or cell type specific genes. This approach enables the generation of purified neural stem cells and neurons from differentiated ES cell progeny. In vivo survival and differentiation of ES derived neural cells in animal models of Parkinson's disease are currently under investigation. Generation of other cell types from ES cells will also be discussed.