Hair Follicle Dermal Cells Support Expansion of Murine and Human Embryonic and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells and Promote Haematopoiesis in Mouse Cultures

Figure 5

Follicular dermal cells support hESCs. hESCs cocultured with either MEFs, human DP cells, or human DS cells showed comparable levels of expression of SSEA-4, TRA-1-60, and Oct4 (a), as determined by flow cytometry indicating that the DP and DS cells were as capable of maintaining hESCs in an undifferentiated state as MEFs. Although all DP and DS cell lines tested were able to maintain hESCs expressing high levels of these markers, it was evident that some lines were more effective than others. hESCs maintained by MEFs and labelled for NANOG (b) and OCT4 (c) have similar staining to hESCs maintained by DP cells and labelled for NANOG (d) and OCT4 (e). Scale bars = 100 μm.