Establishment of a Brazilian line of human embryonic stem cells in defined medium: implications for cell therapy in an ethnically diverse population.

Pluripotent human embryonic stem (hES) cells are an important experimental tool for basic and applied research, and a potential source of different tissues for transplantation. However, one important challenge for the clinical use of these cells is the issue of immunocompatibility, which may be dealt with by the establishment of hES cell banks to attend different populations. Here we describe the derivation and characterization of a line of hES cells from the Brazilian population, named BR-1, in commercial defined medium.

Fibrillins 1 and 2 perform partially overlapping functions during aortic development.

Fibrillin-rich microfibrils are extracellular assemblies that impart structural properties to the connective tissue. To elucidate the contribution of fibrillin-rich microfibrils to organogenesis, we have examined the vascular phenotype of a newly created strain of mice that completely lacks fibrillin-1 and the consequences of combined deficiency of fibrillins 1 and 2 on tissue formation. The results demonstrated that fibrillins 1 and 2 perform partially overlapping functions during aortic development.