Angioblast Derived from ES Cells Construct Blood Vessels and Ameliorate Diabetic Polyneuropathy in Mice

Figure 1

Differentiation and purification of angioblast-like cells from mouse ES cells. (a) Spherical colonies of ES cells (left) were flatly outspread (right) after 4 days of culture on gelatin. Bar: 30 μm. (b) Fluorescence-activated cell sorting analyses showed that a population of cells expressing Flk1 was estimated at 10–20% (left) and came up to 55–63% by magnet associated cell separation (right). (c) Reverse-transcription PCR analyses showed that Flk1 mRNA expression in population selected as Flk1 positive cell was almost 30 times higher than that in population selected as Flk1 negative cell (). (d) Reverse-transcribed PCR analyses showed both mesoderm and angioblast markers, that is, Brachyury (T), Flk1, Flt1, Tie1, Tie2, VE-cad, PU.1, SCL/Tal1, and Lmo2, which were expressed in Flk1 positive cells. On the other hand, PECAM, which is considered as a marker of relatively differentiated endothelial cell, was not detected in Flk1 positive cells after the 4 days of differentiation.

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