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Enrichment of cardiac differentiation by a large starting number of embryonic stem cells in embryoid bodies is mediated by the Wnt11-JNK pathway

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Abstract

Embryoid bodies (EBs) with large starting numbers of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) have a greater degree of cardiac differentiation than from low numbers of EBs. However, the biological roles of signaling molecules in these effects are not well understood. Here, we show that groups of EBs with different starting numbers of ESCs had differential gene expression patterns for Wnt5a and Wnt11. Wnt11 significantly increased the percentage of beating EBs by up-regulating the expression of the cardiac-specific genes. Wnt5a did not show these effects. Moreover, Wnt11 significantly increased the level of phosphorylated Jun N-terminal kinase. The inhibition of the JNK pathway by SP600125 blocked the effects of Wnt11. Thus, enrichment of cardiac differentiation in groups of EBs with a larger starting number of ESCs is mediated by the Wnt11-JNK pathway.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China to Ming Chen (No. 81200119) and a grant from the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities to Ming Chen (No. 121007).

Supporting information

Supplementary Table 1—Primers for RT-PCR analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430071, China

    Ming Chen, Cheng Qian, Fang Zhao, Guang-Yu Zhang, Zhi-Quan Wang, Xue-Dong Gan & Yang-Gan Wang

  2. Key Laboratory of Neurological Disease, Ministry of Education, Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Tongji Medical College , Wuhan, 430030, China

    Lin-Lin Bi

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  1. Ming Chen
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  2. Cheng Qian
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  3. Lin-Lin Bi
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  4. Fang Zhao
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  7. Xue-Dong Gan
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  8. Yang-Gan Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ming Chen.

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Chen, M., Qian, C., Bi, LL. et al. Enrichment of cardiac differentiation by a large starting number of embryonic stem cells in embryoid bodies is mediated by the Wnt11-JNK pathway. Biotechnol Lett 37, 475–481 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-014-1700-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-014-1700-5

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