Video Article Preparation of Mouse Embryonic Fibroblast Cells Suitable for Culturing

In general, human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs)1 can be cultured under variable conditions. However, it is not easy to establish an effective system for culturing these cells. Since the culture conditions can influence gene expression that confers pluripotency in hESCs and hiPSCs, the optimization and standardization of the culture method is crucial. The establishment of hESC lines was first described by using MEFs as feeder cells and fetal bovine serum (FBS)-containing culture medium2. Next, FBS was replaced with knockout serum replacement (KSR) and FGF2, which enhances proliferation of hESCs3. Finally, feeder-free culture systems enable culturing cells on Matrigel-coated plates in KSR-containing conditioned medium (medium conditioned by MEFs)4. Subsequently, hESCs culture conditions have moved towards feeder-free culture in chemically defined conditions5-7. Moreover, to avoid the potential contamination by pathogens and animal proteins culture methods using xeno-free components have been established8. To obtain improved conditions mouse feeder cells have been replaced with human cell lines (e.g. fetal muscle and skin cells9, adult skin cells10, foreskin fibroblasts11-12, amniotic mesenchymal cells13). However, the efficiency of maintaining undifferentiated hESCs using human foreski