Derivation of Stem Cells from in vivo Produced Goat Embryos

Abstract

Studying embryonic stem cells (ESCs) can further our understanding of biological processes in developmental biology, transplantation, and transgenesis. Mouse and human ESC lines have been established, yet domestic animal ESC studies are lacking. Recently, a goat ESC line has been reported. The aim of this research was to characterize previously cryopreserved goat embryo-derived cell lines and generate additional goat ESC lines for future studies. Results suggest that the cells lines represent mixed populations of inner cell mass and trophoblast derived cells. Moreover, many embryos used for ESC derivation failed to attach, thus media and feeder cell types were tested for their ability to support embryo attachment, an important first step to ESC derivation. The study findings indicate the need for more studies on culture conditions for embryo attachment and efficient inner cell mass isolation for derivation of domestic animal ESCs.