Mouse and Human Embryonic Stem Cells: Can They Improve Human Health by Preventing Disease?

Abstract

Given the vast number of chemicals that are released into the environment each year, it is imperative that we develop new predictive models to identify toxicants before unavoidable exposure harms the health of humans and other organisms. In vitro models are especially attractive in predictive toxicology as they can greatly reduce assay costs and animal usage while identifying those chemicals that may require further in vivo evaluation. With the derivation of both mouse and human embryonic stem cells, new opportunities have developed that could revolutionize the field of predictive toxicology. Stem cells themselves can be used to model pre-implantation development, or they can be used during or after differentiation model the earliest stages of development. Because embryos and fetuses are usually more sensitive to environmental toxicants than adults, stem cells provide an unique tool for studying the prenatal phase in our life cycle. The embryonic stem cell test (EST), which has been validated for use with mouse ESC (mESC), is an accurate predictor of embryotoxic compounds, particularly those that are highly embryotoxic. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), although not yet incorporated into a validated test, are a particularly attractive platform for toxicological testing as they can give us direct information on humans and avoid concerns about species variation in response. This review discusses toxicological studies and strategies that have been used with embryonic stem cells during the past five years and possible directions that could lead to improvements in the development of predictive assays in the future.

Thirdhand Smoke: New Evidence, Challenges, and Future Directions

“…73–75 Numerous assays can be done in vitro with different cell types, using different concentrations of THS, and different experimental conditions. Assays can be acute or chronic, end points can be single or multiplexed, and designs can be low- or high-throughput.…”

Adverse Health Effects of Thirdhand Smoke: From Cell to Animal Models

“…These include studies on important cellular processes in various types of cells, including stem cells [26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33], animal-based research [34,35,36], and human health impact [23]. Majority of these studies have been discussed in the recent review by Jacob et al [7].…”

Mitochondrial Stress Response in Neural Stem Cells Exposed to Electronic Cigarettes

“…Because stem cells are present throughout life, their risk of accumulating damage is high. Stem cells are also often more sensitive to stress than differentiated cells (Bahl et al., 2012, Behar et al., 2014), making them excellent models for evaluating safe limits of exposure to potential toxicants (Betts, 2010, Liu et al., 2017, Talbot et al., 2014, Talbot and Lin, 2011, Yin et al., 2015).…”

“…Toxicants, such as tobacco smoke, have detrimental effects on the health of stem cells (Kee et al., 2010, Lin et al., 2010, Lin et al., 2009, Lin et al., 2015, Talbot, 2008, Talbot and Lin, 2011). Stem cells exposed to tobacco products or nicotine have diminished regenerative potential because they are less proliferative, migratory, and able to differentiate (Greenberg et al., 2017, Ng et al., 2015, Shaito et al., 2017).…”