Differentiation of Human Cardiac Atrial Appendage Stem Cells into Adult Cardiomyocytes: A Role for the Wnt Pathway?

Human cardiac stem cells isolated from atrial appendages based on aldehyde dehydrogenase activity (CASCs) can be expanded in vitro and differentiate into mature cardiomyocytes. In this study, we assess whether Wnt activation stimulates human CASC proliferation, whereas Wnt inhibition induces cardiac maturation. CASCs were cultured as described before.

Utilising FGF2, IGF2 and FSH in serum-free protocol for long-term in vitro cultivation of primary human granulosa cells.

Human granulosa cells acquired as leftover from IVF treatment can be used to study infertility problems and are a valuable tool in the research of follicle maturation and ovulation. There is a need for more defined and long-term culture protocols for studying the response of granulosa cells upon treatment with selected hormones/chemicals. In the current study, we tested the effect of adding FGF2, IGF2 and FSH into defined basal medium in order to find culture conditions that would support proliferation of cumulus and mural granulosa cells along with the expression of common granulosa cell type markers such as FSHR, AMHR2, LHR and CYP19A1.

Target prediction and validation of microRNAs expressed from FSHR and aromatase genes in human ovarian granulosa cells.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are known post-transcriptional regulators of various biological processes including ovarian follicle development. We have previously identified miRNAs from human pre-ovulatory ovarian granulosa cells that are expressed from the intronic regions of two key genes in normal follicular development: FSH receptor (FSHR) and CYP19A1, the latter encoding the aromatase enzyme. The present study aims to identify the target genes regulated by these miRNAs: hsa-miR-548ba and hsa-miR-7973, respectively.

Genome-wide histone modification profiling of inner cell mass and trophectoderm of bovine blastocysts by RAT-ChIP.

Chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled with next-generation sequencing (ChIP-seq) has revolutionized our understanding of chromatin-related biological processes. The method, however, requires thousands of cells and has therefore limited applications in situations where cell numbers are limited. Here we describe a novel method called Restriction Assisted Tagmentation Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (RAT-ChIP) that enables global histone modification profiling from as few as 100 cells.

Copy number variation analysis detects novel candidate genes involved in follicular growth and oocyte maturation in a cohort of premature ovarian failure cases.

Study Question: Can spontaneous premature ovarian failure (POF) patients derived from population-based biobanks reveal the association between copy number variations (CNVs) and POF?

Summary Answer: CNVs can hamper the functional capacity of ovaries by disrupting key genes and pathways essential for proper ovarian function.

What Is Known Already: POF is defined as the cessation of ovarian function before the age of 40 years. POF is a major reason for female infertility, although its cause remains largely unknown.