Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 7, 2026

Directed Differentiation of Primitive and Definitive Hematopoietic Progenitors from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells
Published on: November 1, 2017
Distinct mechanisms for PDGF and FGF signaling in primitive endoderm development
Andrei Molotkov1, Philippe Soriano1
1Department of Cell, Developmental, and Regenerative Biology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States.
Abstract:
FGF signaling is known to play a critical role in the specification of primitive endoderm (PrE) and epiblast (Epi) from the inner cell mass (ICM) during mouse preimplantation development, but how FGFs synergize with other growth factor signaling pathways is unknown. Because PDGFRα signaling has also been implicated in the PrE, we investigated the coordinate functions of PDGFRα together with FGFR1 or FGFR2 in PrE development. PrE development was abrogated in Pdgfra; Fgfr1 compound mutants, or significantly reduced in Pdgfra; Fgfr2 or PdgfraPI3K; Fgfr2 compound mutants. We provide evidence that both Fgfr2 and Pdgfra play roles in PrE cell survival while Fgfr1 controls PrE cell specification. Our results suggest a model where FGFR1-engaged ERK1/2 signaling governs PrE specification while PDGFRα- and by analogy possibly FGFR2- engaged PI3K signaling regulates PrE survival and positioning in the embryo. Together, these studies indicate how multiple growth factors and signaling pathways can cooperate in preimplantation development.
Related Concept Videos
Paracrine Signaling
Reaction Mechanisms
For instance, the decomposition of ozone appears to follow a mechanism with two steps:
What is Cell Signaling?
Endocrine Signaling
Bacterial Signaling
Yeast Signaling

