Putative Epimutagens in Maternal Peripheral and Cord Blood Samples Identified Using Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Figure 4

Effects of a chemical mixture (DEP, Hg, cotinine, Se, and S-421) on the epigenetic status of hiPSCs. (a) Cells were treated with serum concentrations of a chemical mixture (DEP, Hg, cotinine, Se, and S-421) for 96 h, and the number of HP1α signals (red) was counted using ImageJ software. Statistical comparisons of signal number were performed using the Wilcoxon test. . Scale bar = 10 μm. Heterochromatin analysis was performed twice independently. (b) The DNA methylation status of the T-DMRs of 10 gene regions obtained using COBRA assays. Human iPSCs were cultured as described in (a); the DNA methylation percentage is shown as means ± SE (). The white and black boxes indicate the methylation level of solvent-treated control and chemical-exposed cells, respectively. Statistical comparisons of DNA methylation were performed using Student’s t-test. . (c) Impaired EB formation after exposure to the chemical mixture. Cells were treated with serum concentrations of the five chemicals for 96 h, and cells were differentiated into EBs in the presence of chemicals for 15 days. Scale bar = 250 μm. Experiments were performed thrice independently.

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