Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 13, 2026

Fate Mapping of Human Embryonic Stem Cells by Teratoma Formation
Published on: August 1, 2010
Lentoids within sacrococcygeal teratoma: origin by transdifferentiation?
G Jurić-Lekić1, A Trosić, A Svajger
1Institute of Histology and Embryology, Zagreb University School of Medicine, Croatia.
Abstract:
Within a teratoma removed surgically from the sacrococcygeal region of a female newborn, clusters of lens-like cells (lentoids) surrounded by the immature tissue of the neural retina were revealed by routine histologic analysis. Comparison of the cytologic and microtopographic characteristics of lentoids that develop in experimental embryo-derived teratomas suggests that the lentoids within the sacrococcygeal teratoma originate by transdifferentiation (cell-type conversion, metaplasia) of cells of the immature neural retina or the pigmented retinal epithelium. The embryonic origin of sacrococcygeal teratomas is discussed in the context of complex morphogenetic features at the posterior end of the early embryo.
Related Concept Videos
Metastasis
Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition
The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition or EMT is a developmental process commonly observed in wound healing, embryogenesis, and cancer metastasis. EMT is induced by transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) or receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) ligands, which further...
Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Forced Transdifferentiation
Artificial transdifferentiation occurs...

