Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 23, 2026

An Enzyme- and Serum-free Neural Stem Cell Culture Model for EMT Investigation Suited for Drug Discovery
Published on: August 23, 2016
Epithelial-mesenchymal transition transcription factors control pluripotent adult stem cell migration in vivo in
Prasad Abnave1, Ellen Aboukhatwa1, Nobuyoshi Kosaka1
1Department of Zoology, Tinbergen Building, South Parks Road, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK.
Abstract:
Migration of stem cells underpins the physiology of metazoan animals. For tissues to be maintained, stem cells and their progeny must migrate and differentiate in the correct positions. This need is even more acute after tissue damage by wounding or pathogenic infection. Inappropriate migration also underpins metastasis. Despite this, few mechanistic studies address stem cell migration during repair or homeostasis in adult tissues. Here, we present a shielded X-ray irradiation assay that allows us to follow stem cell migration in planarians. We demonstrate the use of this system to study the molecular control of stem cell migration and show that snail-1, snail-2 and zeb-1 EMT transcription factor homologs are necessary for cell migration to wound sites and for the establishment of migratory cell morphology. We also observed that stem cells undergo homeostatic migration to anterior regions that lack local stem cells, in the absence of injury, maintaining tissue homeostasis. This requires the polarity determinant notum Our work establishes planarians as a suitable model for further in-depth study of the processes controlling stem cell migration in vivo.
Related Concept Videos
Somatic to iPS Cell Reprogramming
Maintenance of the ES Cell State
Gastrulation
Whole Body Regeneration
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
Somatic...
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

