earticle

영어

Gangliosides are complex glycosphingolipids that contain one or more sialic acids, the major components of cytoplasmic cell membranes. these are tought to play a role in the control of biological processes including cell surface interaction, cell differentiation and transmembrane signaling. Direct reprogramming of somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can be achieved by overexpression of Oct-4, Sox-2, Klf-4 and c-Myc transcription factors, but only a minority of donor somatic cells can be reprogrammed to pluripotency. In this study, we demonstrated that differential expression patterns of gangliosides in iPS cells. First, we investigated characterization of iPS using Alkaline phosphate (AP) and stage-specific embryonic antigen-1 (SSEA-1) straing and RT-PCR. The iPS cells expressed AP and SSEA-1. In RT-PCR analysis, iPS cells also expressed Oct-4, Sox-2 and Nanog mRNA. Immunocytochemistry and high-performance thin-layer chromatography analysis showed that mouse embryonic fibroblast (mEF) expressed GM3, GM2 and GD3, but not GM2 in iPS cells. Furthermore, ganglsiode expression pattern were equal to mouse embryonic stem cell and iPS. In RT-PCR analysis confirmed that GM3 and GD3 synthase mRNA expressed in iPS, whereas mEF also expressed GM2 synthase mRNA. These results suggest that ganglioside GM2 play a important role in regulating the reprogramming of somatic cells into iPS.