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Fig. 1 | BMC Developmental Biology

Fig. 1

From: Dynamic conversion of cell sorting patterns in aggregates of embryonic stem cells with differential adhesive affinity

Fig. 1

Characterization of wild-type and E-cadherin null ES cells. a Wild-type (WT) and E-cadherin null (E-cad (−/−)) ES cells in monolayer cultures with and without retinoic acid (RA) exposure were analyzed by Western blot for relative protein expression levels of the cell-cell adhesion molecules, E-cadherin and N-cadherin, as well as the pluripotency and endodermal differentiation markers, Oct3/4 and Dab2, respectively. Cell differentiation was achieved by treatment of the respective monolayer cultures with1 μM RA for 4 to 5 days. b Bright field images of homotypic aggregation of wild-type or E-cadherin (−/−) cells over a two-hour time course. c Cell adhesive affinity measured by aggregation rates of single cell suspensions of wild-type and E-cadherin (−/−) cells. The aggregation of the homotypic cell suspension yielded a serial reduction of particle count, measured using a Coulter Counter, over the time course. d Wild-type and E-cadherin null ES cell aggregates, cultured in suspension, without and with retinoic acid exposure were analyzed by Western blot for relative protein expression levels of E-cadherin, N-cadherin, Oct3/4, and Dab2, respectively. e Epifluorescence images depicting the control, 2-day cultured homotypic wild-type cell aggregates. The top row of images demonstrates the absence of non-GFP-labeled cells within the aggregates of WT-GFP cell culture. The bottom images establish intermixing of both WT-GFP and WT cells within the heterotypic cell aggregates

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