Phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitor LY294002 but not serum withdrawal suppresses proliferation of murine embryonic stem cells.

Mouse embryonic stem (mES) cells have short duration of their cell cycle and are capable of proliferating in the absence of growth factors. To find out which signaling pathways contribute to the regulation of the mES cell cycle, we used pharmacological inhibitors of MAP and PI3 kinase cascades. The MAP kinase inhibitors as well as serum withdrawal did not affect mES cell cycle distribution, whereas the inhibitor of PI3K activity, LY294002, induced accumulation of cells in G(1) phase followed by apoptotic cell death.