Mitochondrial metabolism directs stemness and differentiation in P19 embryonal carcinoma stem cells.

The relationship between mitochondrial metabolism and cell viability and differentiation in stem cells (SCs) remains poorly understood. In the present study, we compared mitochondrial physiology and metabolism between P19SCs before/after differentiation and present a unique fingerprint of the association between mitochondrial activity, cell differentiation and stemness. In comparison with their differentiated counterparts, pluripotency of P19SCs was correlated with a strong glycolytic profile and decreased mitochondrial biogenesis and complexity: round, low-polarized and inactive mitochondria with a closed permeability transition pore. This decreased mitochondrial capacity increased their resistance against dichloroacetate. Thus, stimulation of mitochondrial function by growing P19SCs in glutamine/pyruvate-containing medium reduced their glycolytic phenotype, induced loss of pluripotent potential, compromised differentiation and became P19SCs sensitive to dichloroacetate. Because of the central role of this type of SCs in teratocarcinoma development, our findings highlight the importance of mitochondrial metabolism in stemness, proliferation, differentiation and chemoresistance. In addition, the present work suggests the regulation of mitochondrial metabolism as a tool for inducing cell differentiation in stem line therapies.

[Tumoral degeneration occurring over a non-healing meningocele. Report of two cases]. / Degeneración tumoral en meningocele no intervenido. Descripción de dos casos.

A giant meningocelic sac has not been usually described in adult patients, due to the fact that it shows a low incidence and few newborn have survived to date though the malformation is benign. We report two cases of patients born with the described malformation and who were not operated at that time, so they reached adulthood with bigger sacs. They needed surgery to remove the sacs, for a different reason. The older one had a fistulous abcess but the LCR did not come out, and it did not improved by the application of topic and antibiotic treatment. The other patient showed a progressive growth of the malformation during the last year, skin hardening and pain. The histological study of the dried sacs proved the existence of a carcinomatous degeneration. In the patients we have treated, it seems that a chronic irritation of the LCR and the appearance of multipotent cells in the meningocele may favour the malignancy of the tissues surrounding the sac. This possible malignancy, already described in the bibliography, suggests a prompt elective surgical treatment of the patients with these congenital lesions as soon as possible.

Gene profiling of Frizzled-1 and Frizzled-2 signaling: expression of G-protein-coupled receptor chimeras in mouse F9 teratocarcinoma embryonal cells.

Wnt-Frizzled signaling via heterotrimeric G-proteins controls various aspects of early development. Because Wnts may activate more than one Frizzled, understanding the downstream signaling mechanisms and target genes for Frizzled activation has been a challenge. We constructed functional, chimeric receptors with the ligand-binding and transmembrane segments from the beta2-adrenergic receptor and the cytoplasmic domains from either rat Frizzled-1 (Rfz1) or Frizzled-2 (Rfz2). Activation with beta-agonist enables stimulation of only a single Frizzled pathway and profiling of genes targeted by this Frizzled-specific approach. Genes activated in mouse totipotent F9 teratocarcinoma cells solely by activation of the Rfz1 chimera include Lefty1, STAM, JAB, Erk1, MyD118, Fcer Ig, and follistatin, genes implicated in development. Stimulation of Rfz2 chimera, but not Rfz1, leads to activation of a smaller set of genes, including those for REST/NRSF, Groucho, nucleophosmin, and Ubc4/5E2. Activation of either Rfz1- or Rfz2-specific chimera leads, in these totipotent stem cells, to some differential activation of a common set of genes, including those for Msx-1, Msx-2, CBP/P300-associated factor, ephrin A3, and Nip-3. We demonstrate the utility of beta2-adrenergic receptor-Frizzled chimeras to provide the tools with which to activate and to probe Frizzled-specific downstream signaling to gene activation.

Ovarian teratomas associated with the insertion of an imprinted transgene.

Ovarian teratomas are tumors that arise from female germ cells and are often a mixture of immature embryonal carcinoma cells and mature embryonic cells. Tissues derived from all three primary embryonic lineages (ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm) are typically found in the mature elements of a teratoma. In the case of the transgenic mouse line TG.KD, created with an imprinted transgene construct, malignant ovarian teratomas of a mixed germ cell tumor morphology occur in 15-20% of hemizygous female carriers of the transgene. The tumors frequently metastasize and can result in death of the mouse. Genetic analysis indicates that the tumors are associated with the transgenes integration site. Inbred FVB/N and female mice of other transgenic lines, also created in the inbred FVB/N strain with the same DNA construct as TG.KD, do not develop teratomas. In addition to teratomas, the integration of the transgene on Chromosome (Chr) 8 is associated with a perinatal lethality in homozygous transgenic carriers. The hemizygous genotypes of the teratomas suggest that they arise from early germ cells, prior to the completion of meiosis I.

Ultrastructural analysis of the early development of teratocarcinomas.

Genital ridges of 12-day embryos of strain 129 mice were transplanted into the testes of adult mice of the same strain. Of the transplants that differentiated into fetal testes, 80% contained intratubular teratocarcinomas by the 7th day after transplantation. These teratocarcinomas were studied ultrastructurally, daily from the 7th-14th day following transplantation, to gain information about the histogenesis of the tumors and the mode of development of multipotent cells. The embryonal carcinoma cells, which are the stem cells of teratocarcinomas, so closely resembled primordial germ cells that the former appeared to be derived from the latter. The cytoplasm of these multipotential cells was characterized by large numbers of dispersed ribosomes and polysomes with few membranous organelles other than mitochondria. Among the earliest signs of differentiation was the development of rough-surfaced endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi complexes, followed by modification of the plasma membrane.