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Expression of liver fatty acid binding protein alters growth and differentiation of embryonic stem cells

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Abstract

Although expression of liver fatty acid binding protein (L-FABP) modulates cell growth, it is not known if L-FABP also alters cell morphology and differentiation. Therefore, pluripotent embryonic stem cells were transfected with cDNA encoding L-FABP and a series of clones expressing increasing levels of L-FABP were isolated. Untransfected ES cells, as well as ES cells transfected only with empty vector, spontaneously differentiated from rounded adipocyte-like to fibroblast-like morphology, concomitant with marked reduction in expression of stage-specific embryonic antigen (SSEA-1). These changes in morphology and expression of SSEA-1 were greatest in ES cell clones expressing L-FABP above a threshold level. Immunofluorescence confocal microscopy revealed that L-FABP was primarily localized in a diffuse-cytosolic pattern along with a lesser degree of punctate L-FABP expression in the nucleus. Nuclear localization of L-FABP was preferentially increased in clones expressing higherlevels of L-FABP. In summary, L-FABP expression altered ES cell morphology and expression of SSEA-1. Taken together with the fact that L-FABP was detected in the nucleus, these data suggested that L-FABP may play a more direct, heretofore unknown, role in regulating ES cell differentiation by acting in the nucleus as well as cytoplasm.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Texas A&M University, TVMC, College Station, TX, 77843-4466, USA

    Friedhelm Schroeder & Barbara P. Atshaves

  2. Department of Pathobiology, Texas A&M University, TVMC, College Station, TX, 77843-4466, USA

    Olga Starodub, Amy L. Boedeker, Roger R. Smith III, John B. Roths, William B. Foxworth & Ann B. Kier

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  1. Friedhelm Schroeder
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  2. Barbara P. Atshaves
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  3. Olga Starodub
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Correspondence to Friedhelm Schroeder.

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Schroeder, F., Atshaves, B.P., Starodub, O. et al. Expression of liver fatty acid binding protein alters growth and differentiation of embryonic stem cells. Mol Cell Biochem 219, 127–138 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010851130136

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