| Stem cells derived from embryos exhibit long term self-renewal and pluripotency. The potential applications of embryonic stem (ES) cells include cell-based therapies and regenerative medicines, high-throughput drug screening and the study of early developmental biology. Clinical applications must first be tested for efficacy and safety in preclinical large-animal medical models. Due to physiological and genetic parity to humans, the domestic dog is a clinically relevant model organism for studying early development and therapy in several tissues and organ systems. Numerous putative canine embryonic stem (cES) cell lines were isolated by immunodissection of the inner cell mass (OVC.ID.1-25) and explant outgrowths from whole canine blastocysts (OVC.EX.1-13). All characterized lines exhibit expression of human ES-associated markers and cell activity, can be maintained in this state for up to 37 passages, and are capable of differentiating into all three germinal layers. Neural specification has been emphasized for future use in regenerative therapies of the central nervous system. |
