Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via del Politecnico 1, 00133, Rome, Italy.
Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via Montpellier 1, 00133, Rome, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2017 May 9;7(1):1621. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-01790-5.
Cellular metabolism of stem cell biology is still an unexplored field. However, considering the amount of information carried by metabolomes, this is a promising field for a fast identification of stem cells itself and during the differentiation process. One of the goals of such application is the identification of residual pluripotent cells before cell transplantation to avoid the occurrence of teratomas. In this paper, we investigated in vitro the volatile compounds (VOCs) released during human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) reprogramming. In particular, we studied hiPSCs differentiation to floating and adherent embryoid bodies until early neural progenitor cells. A preliminary Gas Chromatographic/Mass Spectrometer (GC/MS) analysis, based on a single extraction method and chromatographic separation, indicated 17 volatile compounds whose relative abundance is altered in each step of the differentiation process. The pattern of VOCs shown by hiPSCs is well distinct and makes these cells sharply separated from the other steps of differentiations. Similar behaviour has also been observed with an array of metalloporphyrins based gas sensors. The use of electronic sensors to control the process of differentiation of pluripotent stem cells might suggest a novel perspective for a fast and on-line control of differentiation processes.
干细胞生物学的细胞代谢仍然是一个尚未探索的领域。然而，考虑到代谢组所携带的信息量，这是一个很有前途的领域，可以快速识别干细胞本身及其在分化过程中的状态。这种应用的目标之一是在细胞移植前识别残留的多能细胞，以避免畸胎瘤的发生。在本文中，我们研究了体外人诱导多能干细胞（hiPSCs）重编程过程中释放的挥发性化合物（VOCs）。特别是，我们研究了 hiPSCs 向悬浮和贴壁胚状体的分化，直到早期神经祖细胞。基于单一提取方法和色谱分离的初步气相色谱/质谱（GC/MS）分析表明，有 17 种挥发性化合物的相对丰度在分化过程的每一步都发生了改变。hiPSCs 显示的 VOCs 模式非常明显，使这些细胞与分化的其他步骤明显区分开来。基于金属卟啉的阵列气体传感器也观察到了类似的行为。电子传感器在控制多能干细胞分化过程中的应用可能为快速在线控制分化过程提供了新的视角。
