Characterization of pluripotent stem cells is required for the registration of stem cell lines and allows for an impartial and objective comparison of the results obtained when generating multiple lines. It is therefore crucial to establish specific, fast and reliable protocols to detect the hallmarks of pluripotency. Such protocols should include immunocytochemistry (takes 2 d), identification of the three germ layers in in vitro-derived embryoid bodies by immunocytochemistry (immunodetection takes 3 d) and detection of differentiation markers in in vivo-generated teratomas by immunohistochemistry (differentiation marker detection takes 4 d). Standardization of the immunodetection protocols used ensures minimum variations owing to the source, the animal species, the endogenous fluorescence or the inability to collect large amounts of cells, thereby yielding results as fast as possible without loss of quality. This protocol provides a description of all the immunodetection procedures necessary to characterize mouse and human stem cell lines in different circumstances.

This protocol describes how to isolate primary cardiomyocytes from adult zebrafish hearts and culture them for up to 4 weeks, thereby using them as an alternative to in vivo experiments. After collagenase digestion of the ventricle, cells are exposed to increasing calcium concentrations in order to obtain high-purity cardiomyocytes. The whole isolation process can be accomplished in 4-5 h. The culture conditions we established allow the cells to preserve their mature sarcomeric integrity and contractile properties. Furthermore, adult zebrafish cardiomyocytes in culture, similarly to zebrafish in vivo heart regeneration, undergo partial dedifferentiation and, in contrast to their mammalian counterparts, are able to proliferate. Our protocol enables the study of structural and functional properties in close-to-native cardiomyocytes and allows the application of in vitro techniques and assays that are not feasible to perform in living animals.

Although adult mammals are unable to significantly regenerate their heart, this is not the case for a number of other vertebrate species. In particular, zebrafish are able to fully regenerate their heart following amputation of up to 20% of the ventricle. Soon after amputation, cardiomyocytes dedifferentiate and proliferate to regenerate the missing tissue. More recently, identical results have also been obtained in neonatal mice. Ventricular amputation of neonates leads to a robust regenerative response driven by the proliferation of existing cardiomyocytes in a similar manner to zebrafish. However, this ability is progressively lost during the first week of birth. The fact that adult zebrafish retain the capacity to regenerate their heart suggests that they either possess a unique regenerative mechanism, or that adult mammals lose/ inhibit this process. p38α ΜAPK has previously been shown to negatively regulate the proliferation of adult mammalian cardiomyocytes. We sought to determine whether a similar mechanism exists in adult zebrafish, and whether this needs to be overcome to allow regeneration to proceed. To determine whether p38α ΜAPK also regulates zebrafish cardiomyocytes in a similar manner, we generated conditional transgenic zebrafish in which either dominant-negative or active p38α ΜAPK are specifically expressed in cardiomyocytes. We found that active p38α ΜAPK but not dominantnegative p38α ΜAPK blocks proliferation of adult zebrafish cardiomyocytes and, consequently, heart regeneration as well. It appears that adult zebrafish cardiomyocytes share many characteristics with adult mammalian cardiomyocytes, including p38α MAPK-mediated cell cycle inhibition. These findings raise the possibility that zebrafish-like heart regeneration could be achieved in adult mammals.

The successful use of specialized cells in regenerative medicine requires an optimization in the differentiation protocols that are currently used. Understanding the molecular events that take place during the differentiation of human pluripotent cells is essential for the improvement of these protocols and the generation of high quality differentiated cells. In an effort to understand the molecular mechanisms that govern differentiation we identify the methyltransferase SETD7 as highly induced during the differentiation of human embryonic stem cells and differentially expressed between induced pluripotent cells and somatic cells. Knock-down of SETD7 causes differentiation defects in human embryonic stem cell including delay in both the silencing of pluripotency-related genes and the induction of differentiation genes. We show that SETD7 methylates linker histone H1 in vitro causing conformational changes in H1. These effects correlate with a decrease in the recruitment of H1 to the pluripotency genes OCT4 and NANOG during differentiation in the SETD7 knock down that might affect the proper silencing of these genes during differentiation.

SummaryAdult muscle stem cells and their committed myogenic precursors, commonly referred to as the satellite cell population, are involved in both muscle growth after birth and regeneration after damage. It has been previously proposed that, under these circumstances, satellite cells first become activated, divide and differentiate, and only later fuse to the existing myofiber through M-cadherin-mediated intercellular interactions. Our data show that satellite cells fuse with the myofiber concomitantly to cell division, and only when the nuclei of the daughter cells are inside the myofiber, do they complete the process of differentiation. Here we demonstrate that Mcadherin plays an important role in cell-to-cell recognition and fusion, and is crucial for cell division activation. Treatment of satellite cells with M-cadherin in vitro stimulates cell division, whereas addition of anti-M-cadherin antibodies reduces the cell division rate. Our results suggest an alternative model for the contribution of satellite cells to muscle development, which might be useful in understanding muscle regeneration, as well as muscle-related dystrophies.