Derivation of Mouse Trophoblast Stem Cells from Blastocysts

Summary

In this video, we demonstrate the isolation of mouse blastocysts and the derivation of trophoblast stem cells from blastocysts. We also describe conditions for maintenance of the stem cell property as well as induction of differentiation in culture.

Abstract

Specification of the trophectoderm is one of the earliest differentiation events of mammalian development. The trophoblast lineage derived from the trophectoderm mediates implantation and generates the fetal part of the placenta. As a result, the development of this lineage is essential for embryo survival. Derivation of trophoblast stem (TS) cells from mouse blastocysts was first described by Tanaka et al. 1998. The ability of TS cells to preserve the trophoblast specific property and their expression of stage- and cell type-specific markers after proper stimulation provides a valuable model system to investigate trophoblast lineage development whereby recapitulating early placentation events. Furthermore, trophoblast cells are one of the few somatic cell types undergoing natural genome amplification. Although the molecular pathways underlying trophoblast polyploidization have begun to unravel, the physiological role and advantage of trophoblast genome amplification remains largely elusive. The development of diploid stem cells into polyploid trophoblast cells in culture makes this ex vivo system an excellent tool for elucidating the regulatory mechanism of genome replication and instability in health and disease. Here we describe a protocol based on previous reports with modification published in Chiu et al. 2008.

Protocol

In this protocol, we describe the preparation of mouse blastocysts and the establishment of TS cell lines. General mouse manipulations prior to the collection of blastocysts, including the set up for natural mating and the induction of super ovulation, basically follow the standard protocol illustrated by Nagy et al. 2003 (pp146-150). Derivation and maintenance of TS cells Setup breeding cross between mice of interest. Prepare mouse embryonic fibroblasts …

Discussion

In this video, we demonstrate the process to collect E3.5 blastocysts from uteri and experimental procedures to establish TS cell lines. We also describe the condition to maintain the stemness of TS cells and to induce their differentiation into differentiated cells. Two critical steps to obtain pure TS cell lines are the timing for outgrowth disaggregation (step 9) and processing the first passage (step 11). It has been reported that primitive endoderm-derived cells can arise in the culture after extensive blastocyst ou…

Materials

Reagents

TS medium:
RPMI-1640, 20% FBS, 1 mM sodium pyruvate, 100 mM beta-mercaptoethanol and 100 mg/ml penicillin-streptomycin.

Mitomycin C:
Dissolve 2 mg mitomycin C (Sigma M-0503) in 2 ml PBS and add this 2 ml mixture into 200 ml TS medium (10 ng/ml). Make 20 aliquots (10 ml) and store at -20°C until use. Add one aliquot per 100 mm plate.

Mouse embryonic fibroblast-condition medium (MEF-CM):
Plate MEFs in 100 mm plates (1 x 10⁶/plate). Next day, add 10 ml TS medium per dish and continue to culture for 48 hours. Collect the culture medium, filter them (0.45 mm) and store at -20°C in 35 ml aliquots. Thaw each aliquot when needed which can be stored at 4°C. The MEFs can be used to prepare for two more batches of CM before they become confluent.

PBS/BSA:
Dissolve BSA, fraction V (Sigma A3311, 0.1% (w/v)) in PBS (10 ml), filter through a 0.45 mm syringe filter and make 1 ml aliquots in 1.5 ml tubes. Store at -70°C and thaw one tube when needed to prepare FGF4.

FGF4 (1000x):
Resuspend lyophilized FGF4 (Sigma F8424, 25 mg) with 1 ml of the PBS/BSA solution. Mix well and make 10 aliquots (100 ml) into 1.5 ml tubes and store at -70°C. Thaw each tube when needed and store the remaining at 4°C, do not re-freeze. Dilute 1000 times in TS medium to obtain 1x FGF4 (25 ng/ml).

Heparin (1000x):
Resuspend heparin (Sigma H3149, 10,000 units) in PBS to a final concentration of 1 mg/ml (1000x). Make 100 ml aliquots into 1.5 ml tubes and store at -70°C. Thaw aliquots when needed and store the remaining at 4°C, do not re-freeze. Dilute 1000 time in TS medium to obtain 1x heparin (1 ng/ml).