Abstract
Stem cells are used for the investigation of developmental processes at both cellular and organism levels and offer tremendous potentials for clinical applications as an unlimited source for transplantation. Gangliosides, sialic acid-conjugated glycosphingolipids, play important regulatory roles in cell proliferation and differentiation. However, their expression patterns in stem cells and during neuronal differentiation are not known. Here, we investigated expression of gangliosides during the growth of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs), mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and differentiated neuronal cells by using high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC). Monosialoganglioside 1 (GM1) was expressed in mESCs and MSCs, while GM3 and GD3 were expressed in embryonic bodies. In the 9-day old differentiated neuronal cells from mESCs cells and MSCs, GM1 and GT1b were expressed. Results from immunostaining were consistent with those observed by HPTLC assay. These suggest that gangliosides are specifically expressed according to differentiation of mESCs and MSCs into neuronal cells and expressional difference of gangliosides may be a useful marker to identify differentiation of mESCs and MSCs into neuronal cells.
Highlights
Gangliosides are complex glycosphingolipids (GSLs) with N-acetylneuraminic acids (NeuAc), which are major cytoplasmic membrane constituents in mammalian cells, and play important regulatory roles in cell proliferation and differentiation (Svennerholm, 1980; Nojiri et al, 1986; Hakomori, 1990)
Ganglioside GM3 was observed in the neuronal cells differentiated from mouse embryonic stem cell (mESC) at 6 days after induction of differentiation, whereas ganglioside GM1 and GT1b were expressed in the neuronal cells differentiated from mESCs at 9 days after induction of differentiation
Immunofluorescence of gangliosides in mESCs and embryonic body (EB) To confirm the results shown in Figure 1, we investigated the localization of gangliosides in mESCs and EBs
Summary
Gangliosides are complex glycosphingolipids (GSLs) with N-acetylneuraminic acids (NeuAc), which are major cytoplasmic membrane constituents in mammalian cells, and play important regulatory roles in cell proliferation and differentiation (Svennerholm, 1980; Nojiri et al, 1986; Hakomori, 1990). Cellular gangliosides act as physiological modulators for growth factor mediated cell proliferation (Li et al, 2000). Gangliosides are highly expressed in the vertebrate central nervous system (Ledeen and Yu, 1982), and the antibodies against gangliosides synthases detect the distribution of gangliosides in tissue and cells (Choo et al, 2001). Monosialoganglioside 3 (GM3) is expressed in the mouse ovary tissue and rat glomerular mesangial cells (Kwak et al, 2003). Survival of differentiated stem cells depends on the inhibition of the ganglioside biosynthesis (Liour and Yu, 2002). These suggest that gangliosides may regulate the growth and differentiation of stem cells
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
