Faculty Collaboration Database

Self-organized amniogenesis by human pluripotent stem cells in a biomimetic implantation-like niche. Nat Mater 2017 Apr;16(4):419-425

Date

12/13/2016

Pubmed ID

27941807

Pubmed Central ID

PMC5374007

DOI

10.1038/nmat4829

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85018471615 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   166 Citations

Abstract

Amniogenesis-the development of amnion-is a critical developmental milestone for early human embryogenesis and successful pregnancy. However, human amniogenesis is poorly understood due to limited accessibility to peri-implantation embryos and a lack of in vitro models. Here we report an efficient biomaterial system to generate human amnion-like tissue in vitro through self-organized development of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) in a bioengineered niche mimicking the in vivo implantation environment. We show that biophysical niche factors act as a switch to toggle hPSC self-renewal versus amniogenesis under self-renewal-permissive biochemical conditions. We identify a unique molecular signature of hPSC-derived amnion-like cells and show that endogenously activated BMP-SMAD signalling is required for the amnion-like tissue development by hPSCs. This study unveils the self-organizing and mechanosensitive nature of human amniogenesis and establishes the first hPSC-based model for investigating peri-implantation human amnion development, thereby helping advance human embryology and reproductive medicine.

Author List

Shao Y, Taniguchi K, Gurdziel K, Townshend RF, Xue X, Yong KMA, Sang J, Spence JR, Gumucio DL, Fu J

Author

Kenichiro Taniguchi PhD Assistant Professor in the Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Amnion
Biomimetic Materials
Cell Line
Humans
Models, Biological
Pluripotent Stem Cells
Reproductive Medicine
Stem Cell Niche
Tissue Engineering