The efficacy of human placenta as a source of the universal feeder in human and mouse pluripotent stem cell culture

The use of a mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) feeder for culture of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) is a widely accepted method, regardless of the ESCs' origin and type. In this study, we performed the undifferentiated propagation of human ES cell lines (hESCs, H1, and HSF6) and mouse ES cell lines (mESCs, D3, and CE3), which were previously maintained on an MEF feeder, using human placenta-derived fibroblast-like cell (HPC) feeders originated from chorionic villi of women who had undergone therapeutic abortion due to known maternal disease that is aggravated by pregnancy. Moreover, we tried to introduce the HPC feeder for the establishment of inducible pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from human placental mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). On the HPC feeder we were able to propagate ESCs and iPSCs colonies as an undifferentiated state up to the 50th passage and 20th passage, respectively. Maintenance of undifferentiated ESCs was identified by the expression of ALP, SSEA-1, SSEA-4, TRA-81, TRA-60, Oct-4, Nanog, or Rex-1. Also, addition of leukemia inhibitory factor was not required for undifferentiated propagation of mESCs on the HPC feeder. The efficiency and expression of three germ layer markers of embryoid bodies (EBs) from ESCs were satisfactory in both the MEF and HPC group. EBs formed from iPSCs were scant, and differentiation to the three germ layers was identifiable by reverst transcription-polymerase chain reactio (RT-PCR) only in the HPC group. In conclusion, the HPC feeder can efficiently support the undifferentiated propagation of hESCs, mESCs, and iPSCs, suggesting that human placenta may be a useful source of universal feeder cells for hESC, mESC, and iPSC culture.