AICAR Activates Pluripotency in Stem Cells
Author Information
Author(s): Adamo Luigi, Zhang Yuzhi, García-Cardeña Guillermo
Primary Institution: Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital
Hypothesis
AICAR could induce Klf2 and Klf4 expression in other cell types and activate the pluripotency transcriptional network.
Conclusion
AICAR is a useful pharmacological entity for studying small molecule mediated induction of pluripotency.
Supporting Evidence
- AICAR induced a 9 fold upregulation of Klf4 and a 2.7 fold upregulation of Klf2.
- AICAR was able to maintain Nanog and Oct4 expression in mESC exposed to retinoic acid.
- AICAR significantly rescued the loss of alkaline phosphatase positivity associated with differentiation.
Takeaway
AICAR is a chemical that helps stem cells stay young and not turn into other types of cells, which is important for making new medicines.
Methodology
Mouse embryonic stem cells were treated with AICAR and gene expression was measured using quantitative PCR.
Limitations
AICAR did not induce the complete activation of the transcriptional pluripotency network in fibroblasts.
Participant Demographics
Mouse embryonic stem cells and murine fibroblasts were used in the study.
Statistical Information
P-Value
p<0.0001
Statistical Significance
p<0.0001
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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