Vitamin C and Generation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell
The exciting news that scientists developed stem cells from the human adult cells in 2007 was followed by frustrating reality that the scientists are they are still trying to increase its efficiency. Typically, only 0,01 percent of fibroblast cells are successfully transformed into induced pluripotent stem cells. The iPS cells can develop into any kind of cell type promising the repair or replacement of damaged tissues and organs as well as treatment of various diseases in the future.
The researchers at the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health in China have managed to increase the efficiency of iPS cell production by using vitamin C. Generation of iPS cells is triggered by introduction of genes or proteins to adult cells commonly involving a virus. The Chinese researchers led by Duanqing Pei have discovered that the same factors that are used for transformation of non-pluripotent cells into pluripotent ones also create the free radicals or reactive oxygen species which are known to increase cell death. In order to block the free radicals Pei and his team added different antioxidants including vitamin C to the medium used for growth of mouse cells. They discovered that the medium containing vitamin C had 30% more cells than the one that did not. In addition, vitamin C increased the pluripotency of the cell population. 10 to 20 percent of cells grown with vitamin C expressed pluripotency genes after 14 days, while only 0,1 to 0,2 of cell population grown without vitamin C expressed pluripotency genes in the same period of time.
Pei and his team also tried with other types of antioxidants but they were less efficient in compare to vitamin C. The results of the study which were published in Cell Stem Cell in December 2009 imply that a yet unidentified factor may play an important role in the development of pluripotency.
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