Comparison of osteoblast and cardiomyocyte differentiation in the embryonic stem cell test for predicting embryotoxicity in vivo

Esther de Jong*, Lianne van Beek, Aldert H. Piersma

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

    Abstract

    One of the most studied alternative embryotoxicity assays is the embryonic stem cell test, in which the effect of compounds on cardiomyocyte differentiation is evaluated (subsequently termed the ESTc). This single differentiation endpoint may limit the predictive value of the assay. We recently published a novel embryonic stem cell based osteoblast differentiation assay (subsequently termed the ESTo), in which we studied the effect of six embryotoxic compounds. Differentiation is monitored via the differential expression of three genes related to osteogenesis (Runx2, SPARC and collagen type I). In the current study, we evaluated the effect of 14 additional compounds in the ESTo, to assess its added value as compared to the ESTc. To this end, we compared the effects of the compounds in the ESTo to their effects in the ESTc and to their published in vivo developmental toxicity profiles. The results show that there is a high overall correlation between compound potencies as regards inhibition of osteoblast and cardiomyocyte differentiation. Moreover, the results in both the ESTo and ESTc showed a significant correlation to in vivo developmental toxicity potency ranking of compounds tested. Interestingly, the embryotoxic effect of TCDD could only be detected using the ESTo, which can be explained based on its mechanism of action and its known inhibitory effect on osteogenesis. The results of TCDD suggest that incorporating the ESTo into a testing battery together with the ESTc could improve the overall predictive value of the battery.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)62-71
    Number of pages10
    JournalReproductive Toxicology
    Volume48
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2014

    Keywords

    • Cardiac differentiation
    • Embryonic stem cells
    • In vitro developmental toxicity
    • Osteogenic differentiation

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