Test of maturity for stem cells

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Test of maturity for stem cells

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-05/f-tom050608.php

Stem cells are extremely versatile: They can develop in 220 different

ways, transforming themselves into a correspondingly diverse range of

specialized body cells. Biologists and medical scientists plan to

make use of this differentiation ability to selectively harvest

cardiac, skin or nerve cells for the treatment of different diseases.

However, the stem cell culture techniques practiced today are not

very efficient. What proportion of a mass of stem cells is

transformed into which body cells " And in what conditions " " We need

devices that keep doing the same thing and thus deliver statistically

reliable data, " says Professor Günter Fuhr, director of the

Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT in St. Ingbert.

Two prototypes of laboratory devices for stem cell differentiation

enable the complex careers of stem cells to be systematically

examined for the first time ever. These devices are the result of the

international project `CellPROM' – `Cell Programming by Nanoscaled

Devices' – which was funded by the European Union to the tune of 16.7

million euros and coordinated by the IBMT. " The type of cell culture

used until now is too far removed from the natural situation, " says

CellPROM project coordinator Schmitt – for in the body, the

stem cells come into contact with solute nutrients, messenger RNAs

and a large number of different cells. Millions of proteins rest in

or on the cell membranes and excite the stem cells to transform

themselves into specialized cells. " We want to provide the stem cells

in the laboratory with a surface that is as similar as possible to

the cell membranes, " explains Schmitt. " To this end, the

consortium developed a variety of methods by which different

biomolecules can be efficiently applied to cell-compatible surfaces. "

In the two machines – MagnaLab and NazcaLab – the stem cells are

brought into contact with the signal factors in a pre-defined manner.

In MagnaLab, several hundred cells grow on culture substrates that

are coated with biomolecules. In NazcaLab, large numbers of

individual cells, washed around by a nutrient solution, float along

parallel channels where they encounter micro-particles that are

charged with signal factors. " We use a microscope and a camera to

document in fast motion how individual cells divide and

differentiate, " says Schmitt. The researchers demonstrated on about

20 different cell models that the multi-talents can be stimulated by

surface signals to transform themselves into specialized cells.