Читать книгу The SAGE Encyclopedia of Stem Cell Research - Группа авторов - Страница 223

Transplantation assays to identify the presence of stem or progenitor cells involve first isolating tissue fragments or specific cell populations from the epithelial layer of the breast. While earlier techniques used more heterogeneous populations, newer cell isolation reagents have the ability to isolate and test individual cells or more homogenous populations. These cells are then transplanted to the cleared fat pads of other mice that contain the supporting tissue but no glandular or ductal cells. If the transplanted cells had stem cell capacity, they would generate either one more of the three epithelial cell types depending upon whether they were multipotent or unipotent in nature. Further self-renewal capacity, which is an important characteristic of stem cells, can be tested by obtaining cells from the first transplantation and transferring them again to another recipient animal and observing whether they have the capacity to regenerate all epithelial cell types in the luminal and basal layer. In this method, the accuracy of identifying stem cells depends on the ability to isolate and purify cells that are being transplanted.