Dct::lacZ ES cells: a novel cellular model to study melanocyte determination and differentiation

Embryonic stem (ES) cells differentiate into various cell lineages in vitro. A procedure was previously designed to promote the differentiation of ES cells towards the melanocyte lineage and to obtain large and reproducible amounts of melanocytes. To elucidate the main events that lead to the development of melanocytes in vitro, we used transgenic Dct::lacZ mouse blastocysts to establish ES cell lines expressing the lacZ reporter gene under the control of the Dct promoter. Dct, a melanoblast marker, is expressed just after melanoblast determination in vivo. We evaluated the importance of recruitment, proliferation and differentiation during melanocyte ontogeny after the in vitro differentiation of Dct::lacZ ES cells into melanocytes. We showed that bFGF and cholera toxin induce precocious melanoblast determination, associated with early melanocyte differentiation. Edn3 induced melanoblast proliferation and long-term melanoblast recruitment, but not precocious determination. The lack of basic Fibroblast Growth Factor (bFGF) and cholera toxin can be partially compensated by Edn3. Thus, Dct::lacZ ES cells can be used as a model to study determination, proliferation and differentiation in the melanocyte lineage in vitro.