Abstract:

[Abstract]   Objective   To observe the effects of insulin-like growth factor-2(IGF2) in the course of mouse embryon?
ic stem cells induced to differentiate into islet-like cells.   Methods   Mouse ES cells were induced to differentiate into isletlike cells in vitro. The expression of islet specific markers was tested by RT-PCR and immunofluorescence assay. RT-PCR/RFLP was used to test the imprinted genes IGF2parental expression in cells at different stages.   Results  Islet specific markers were expressed in differentiated cells, such as insulin, glucagon and C-peptide. PCR-RFLP showed that imprinted genesIGF2derived from embryonic stem cells were biallelic expression and loss of  imprinting . Conclusion   Gene imprinting status of IGF2was changed in differentiated cells in vitro.

Key words: embryonic stem cell, genomic imprinting, insulin-like growth factor Ⅱ, alleles, cell differentiation