The postimplantation embryo differentially regulates endometrial gene expression and decidualization.

Transcriptomal changes in the uterine endometrium induced in response to the implanting embryo remain largely unknown. In this study, using Affymetrix mRNA expression microarray analysis, we identified genes differentially expressed in the murine endometrium in the presence or absence of the embryo. Compared with the pseudopregnant deciduoma induced by a mechanical stimulus in the absence of an embryo, approximately 1500 genes (753 up-regulated, 686 down-regulated; P < 0.

Correction of a mineralization defect by overexpression of a wild-type cDNA for COL1A1 in marrow stromal cells (MSCs) from a patient with osteogenesis imperfecta: a strategy for rescuing mutations that produce dominant-negative protein defects.

Gene therapy for dominant-negative disorders presents a more difficult challenge than gene therapy for recessive disorders, since even partial replacement of a protein for a recessive disorder can reverse symptoms. Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) has frequently served as a model disorder for dominant-negative defects of structural proteins. The disease is caused by mutations in type I collagen (COL1A1), the major structural component of bone, skin and other connective tissues.

Telomerase deficiency impairs differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells.

Expression of telomerase activity presumably is involved in maintaining self-replication and the undifferentiated state of stem cells. Adult mouse bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (mMSCs) are multipotential cells capable of differentiating into a variety of lineage cell types, including adipocytes and chondrocytes. Here we show that the lacking telomerase of mMSC lose multipotency and the capacity to differentiate.

MicroSAGE analysis of 2,353 expressed genes in a single cell-derived colony of undifferentiated human mesenchymal stem cells reveals mRNAs of multiple cell lineages.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) isolated from the bone marrow of adult organisms are capable of differentiating into adipocytes, chondrocytes, myoblasts, osteoblasts, and hematopoiesis-supporting stroma. We recently demonstrated that MSCs also adopt glial cell fates when transplanted into the developing central nervous system and hence can produce tissue elements derived from a separate embryonic layer. Despite these remarkable properties, it has been difficult to establish specific criteria to characterize MSCs.