Scaffold-assisted tissue engineering of early human placenta derived from embryonic stem cells

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K14525
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Developmental biology
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: CARLTON Peter 京都大学, 生命科学研究科, 准教授 (20571813)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): KAFER Georgia 京都大学, 大学院生命科学研究科, 特定研究員 (50750634)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: trophoblast / human ES cells / tissue engineering

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The goal of this study was to find optimal conditions for formation of placenta-like structures in differentiated trophoblast cells derived from human ES cells grown on a solid matrix. We tested whether providing a shaped scaffold (micro-bumps of polydimethylsiloxane, PDMS) encouraged the outgrowth of trophoblast cells from human ES cells. Ｗe found that plasma treatment of the PDMS mold greatly enhanced the ability of human cells to adhere and grow. Using plasma-treated molds we succeeded in attaching human ES cells and differentiating them into trophoblast-like precursors. We found that growing cells underneath a PDMS mold floating on the media surface encouraged outgrowth of nonproliferative villus-like structures and shedding of syncitial knot-like clusters of multinucleated cells. We are currently cytologically characterizing these clusters to determine whether they are actual differentiated syncitial knots.

Free Research Field

細胞生物学