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Updated: Aug 21, 2026
Quantification of Self-renewal in Murine Mammosphere Cultures
Published on: November 26, 2019
Cell population dynamics model for deconvolution of murine embryonic stem cell self-renewal and differentiation
Wendy A Prudhomme1, Keith H Duggar, Douglas A Lauffenburger
1Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 25 Ames Street, 56-341, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
Abstract:
Stem cell self-renewal versus differentiation fate decisions are difficult to characterize and analyze due to multiple competing rate processes occurring simultaneously among heterogeneous cell subpopulations. To address this challenge, we describe a mathematical model for cell population dynamics that allows flow cytometry measurement of population distributions of molecular markers to be deconvoluted in terms of subpopulation-specific rate parameters distinguishing commitment to differentiation, proliferation of differentiated cells, and proliferation of undifferentiated cells (i.e., self-renewal). We validate this model-based parameter determination by means of dedicated, independent cell-tracking studies. Our approach facilitates interpretation of relationships underlying effects of external cues on cell responses in differentiating cultures via intracellular signals.
