Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021:2258:131-147.
doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1174-6_10.

Gastruloids: Embryonic Organoids from Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells to Study Patterning and Development in Early Mammalian Embryos

Kerim Anlas  1   2 , Peter Baillie-Benson  3 , Krisztina Arató  1 , David A Turner  4 , Vikas Trivedi  5
Affiliations

Gastruloids: Embryonic Organoids from Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells to Study Patterning and Development in Early Mammalian Embryos

Kerim Anlas et al. Methods Mol Biol. 2021.

Abstract

Gastruloids are embryonic organoids made from small, defined numbers of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) aggregated in suspension culture, which over time form 3D structures that mimic many of the features of early mammalian development. Unlike embryoid bodies that are usually disorganized when grown over several days, gastruloids display distinct, well-organized gene expression domains demarcating the emergence of the three body axes, anteroposterior axial elongation, and implementation of collinear Hox transcriptional patterns over 5-7 days of culture. As such gastruloids represent a useful experimental system that is complementary to in vivo approaches in studying early developmental patterning mechanisms regulating the acquisition of cell fates. In this protocol, we describe the most recent method for generating gastruloids with high reproducibility, and provide a comprehensive list of possible challenges as well as steps for protocol optimization.

Keywords: Axial development; Gastrulation; Gastruloids; Mouse embryo; Mouse embryonic stem cells; Organoids.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Evans MJ, Kaufman MH (1981) Establishment in culture of pluripotential cells from mouse embryos. Nature 292:154–156 - DOI
    1. Schröter C, Rué P, Mackenzie JP et al (2015) FGF/MAPK signaling sets the switching threshold of a bistable circuit controlling cell fate decisions in embryonic stem cells. Development 142:4205–4216 - DOI
    1. Turner DA, Rué P, Mackenzie JP et al (2014) Brachyury cooperates with Wnt/β-Catenin signalling to elicit Primitive Streak like behaviour in differentiating mouse ES cells. BMC Biol 12:63 - DOI
    1. Mulas C, Kalkan T, von Meyenn F et al (2019) Defined conditions for propagation and manipulation of mouse embryonic stem cells. Development 146:dev178970-17
    1. Turner DA, Trott J, Hayward P et al (2014) An interplay between extracellular signalling and the dynamics of the exit from pluripotency drives cell fate decisions in mouse ES cells. Biol Open 3:614–626 - DOI

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources