Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Embryonic Stem Cells00:58

Embryonic Stem Cells

25.8K
Embryonic stem (ES) cells are undifferentiated pluripotent cells, meaning they can produce any cell type in the body. This gives them tremendous potential in science and medicine since they can generate specific cell types for use in research or to replace body cells lost due to damage or disease.
25.8K
Embryonic Stem Cells00:57

Embryonic Stem Cells

4.5K
Embryonic stem (ES) cells were first discovered in mice in 1981 by Martin Evans. In 1998, James Thomson identified a method to isolate embryonic stem cells from humans. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are obtained from 3-5 day old embryos that remain unused after an in vitro fertilization procedure.
ES cells are grown in a culture medium where they can divide indefinitely, creating ES cell lines. Under certain conditions, ES cells can differentiate, either spontaneously into a variety of...
4.5K
Zygotic Development And Stem Cell Formation01:10

Zygotic Development And Stem Cell Formation

6.4K
The development of all multicellular organisms starts with the fusion of haploid cells called sperm and egg to form a diploid zygote. A zygote is a totipotent cell that can develop into a complete organism. The zygote undergoes cell division or cleavage to form an 8-cell mass. Until this stage, the cells are spherical, loosely attached, and remain totipotent. Totipotent cells are capable of developing both the embryonic and the extraembryonic tissues. However, as they continue to divide, they...
6.4K
Maintenance of the ES Cell State01:14

Maintenance of the ES Cell State

1.9K
The cells of the blastocyst inner cell mass only remain pluripotent for a short time. This state of pluripotency and self-renewal can be maintained in embryonic stem (ES) cell culture by adding specific chemicals or growth factors to ensure the cells can continue dividing and later differentiate into different cell types. In some cases, the cells are grown on a feeder layer of differentiated cells, which provides the growth factors and extracellular matrix components necessary for stem cell...
1.9K
Stem Cell Culture01:17

Stem Cell Culture

4.5K
Stem cell research aims to find ways to use stem cells to regenerate and repair cellular damage. Over time, most adult cells undergo the wear and tear of aging and lose their ability to divide and repair themselves. Stem cells do not display a particular morphology or function. Adult stem cells, which exist as a small subset of cells in most tissues, keep dividing and can differentiate into a number of specialized cells generally formed by that tissue. These cells enable the body to renew and...
4.5K
Source And Potency Of Stem Cells01:27

Source And Potency Of Stem Cells

5.0K
Stem cells are undifferentiated cells with extensive self-renewal properties that help them maintain their population during the fetal and adult stages of life. They can specialize in all cell types of the human body. However, their differential potential may vary and can be classified into five types. Stem cells can be (1) Totipotent, (2) Pluripotent, (3) Multipotent, (4) Oligopotent, and (5) Unipotent. Each stem cell has a specific origin; the fertilized egg or zygote is a totipotent cell and...
5.0K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

AXIN1 and AXIN2 regulate the WNT-signaling landscape to promote distinct mesoderm programs.

Developmental cell·2026
Same author

L1CAM signaling through planar cell polarity drives SOX2 expression and lung adenocarcinoma metastasis.

Nature communications·2026
Same author

Asymmetric attrition and secondary chromosome destabilization after double-strand breaks in human embryonic development.

Nature communications·2026
Same author

Mutational scanning reveals oncogenic CTNNB1 mutations have diverse effects on signaling.

Nature genetics·2026
Same author

The hard truth about how hard it is to publish in Development.

Development (Cambridge, England)·2026
Same author

Live Imaging of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells and Embryos: Protocols for In Vitro Culture, Microscopy, and Image Data Analysis.

Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)·2025

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 28, 2026

Oct4GiP Reporter Assay to Study Genes that Regulate Mouse Embryonic Stem Cell Maintenance and Self-renewal
08:01

Oct4GiP Reporter Assay to Study Genes that Regulate Mouse Embryonic Stem Cell Maintenance and Self-renewal

Published on: May 30, 2012

10.1K

Embryonic stem cell identity grounded in the embryo.

Berenika Plusa1, Anna-Katerina Hadjantonakis2

  • 1Faculty of Life Sciences, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK.

Nature Cell Biology
|May 31, 2014
PubMed
Summary

Scientists identified the in vivo source of embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Epiblast cells from late-stage blastocysts are the functional equivalent of ESCs, providing a key link between early development and stem cell biology.

More Related Videos

Blastomere Explants to Test for Cell Fate Commitment During Embryonic Development
14:08

Blastomere Explants to Test for Cell Fate Commitment During Embryonic Development

Published on: January 26, 2013

14.8K
Fate Mapping of Human Embryonic Stem Cells by Teratoma Formation
08:56

Fate Mapping of Human Embryonic Stem Cells by Teratoma Formation

Published on: August 1, 2010

18.7K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Apr 28, 2026

Oct4GiP Reporter Assay to Study Genes that Regulate Mouse Embryonic Stem Cell Maintenance and Self-renewal
08:01

Oct4GiP Reporter Assay to Study Genes that Regulate Mouse Embryonic Stem Cell Maintenance and Self-renewal

Published on: May 30, 2012

10.1K
Blastomere Explants to Test for Cell Fate Commitment During Embryonic Development
14:08

Blastomere Explants to Test for Cell Fate Commitment During Embryonic Development

Published on: January 26, 2013

14.8K
Fate Mapping of Human Embryonic Stem Cells by Teratoma Formation
08:56

Fate Mapping of Human Embryonic Stem Cells by Teratoma Formation

Published on: August 1, 2010

18.7K

Area of Science:

  • Developmental biology
  • Stem cell science

Background:

  • Pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are crucial for developmental biology research.
  • Deriving ESCs from mouse embryos is established, but their precise in vivo origin remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify the specific cell type in early mouse embryos that corresponds to embryonic stem cells.
  • To functionally characterize the in vivo counterpart of ESCs.

Main Methods:

  • Expression profiling of cells from different stages of mouse blastocyst development.
  • Derivation and characterization of stem cell lines from specific embryonic cell populations.

Main Results:

  • Epiblast cells isolated from late-stage blastocysts were identified as the source of ESCs.
  • These epiblast cells demonstrated functional pluripotency, mirroring ESCs.

Conclusions:

  • Epiblast cells from late-stage blastocysts are the in vivo equivalent of ESCs.
  • This finding clarifies the developmental origin of pluripotent stem cells.