TY - JOUR

T1 - Ultrastructural heterogeneity of the mitochondrial population in rat embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells

AU - Suldina, Lyubov A.

AU - Sorokina, Anastasiya E.

AU - Morozova, Ksenia N.

N1 - Funding Information: Cells were kindly provided by the laboratory of Developmental Epigenetics of ICG SB RAS. Microscopy equipment for this study was provided by interinstitutional Common Use Center for Microscopy of Biologic Objects, SB RAS (ICG SB RAS, Novosibirsk, project No. 0259‐2021‐0011). The English language was corrected by shevchuk-editing.com . This study was supported by The Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (0259‐2019‐0005). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 International Federation for Cell Biology

PY - 2021/11

Y1 - 2021/11

N2 - Even though rats are popular model animals, the ultrastructure of their pluripotent cells, that is, embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), remains unexplored, although fine structure of pluripotent stem cells of mice and humans and its changes during differentiation have been investigated well. In the present study, we carried out ultrastructural and morphometric analyses of three lines of rat ESCs and two lines of rat iPSCs. The rat pluripotent stem cells were found to have the main typical morphological features of pluripotent cells: large nuclei of irregular or nearly round shape, scanty cytoplasm with few membrane organelles, and a poorly developed Golgi apparatus and endoplasmic reticulum. The cytoplasm of the rat pluripotent cells contains clusters of glycogen, previously described in human ESCs. To identify possible differences between rat ESCs and iPSCs, we performed a morphometric analysis of cell parameters. The mean area of cells and nuclei, the nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio, distributions of glycogen and diversity of mitochondria showed marked variations among the lines of rat pluripotent stem cells and were more pronounced than variations between rat ESCs and iPSCs as separate types of pluripotent stem cells. We noted morphological heterogeneity of the mitochondrial population in the rat pluripotent stem cells. The cells contained three types of mitochondria differing in the structure of cristae and in matrix density, and our morphometric analysis revealed differences in cristae structure.

AB - Even though rats are popular model animals, the ultrastructure of their pluripotent cells, that is, embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), remains unexplored, although fine structure of pluripotent stem cells of mice and humans and its changes during differentiation have been investigated well. In the present study, we carried out ultrastructural and morphometric analyses of three lines of rat ESCs and two lines of rat iPSCs. The rat pluripotent stem cells were found to have the main typical morphological features of pluripotent cells: large nuclei of irregular or nearly round shape, scanty cytoplasm with few membrane organelles, and a poorly developed Golgi apparatus and endoplasmic reticulum. The cytoplasm of the rat pluripotent cells contains clusters of glycogen, previously described in human ESCs. To identify possible differences between rat ESCs and iPSCs, we performed a morphometric analysis of cell parameters. The mean area of cells and nuclei, the nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio, distributions of glycogen and diversity of mitochondria showed marked variations among the lines of rat pluripotent stem cells and were more pronounced than variations between rat ESCs and iPSCs as separate types of pluripotent stem cells. We noted morphological heterogeneity of the mitochondrial population in the rat pluripotent stem cells. The cells contained three types of mitochondria differing in the structure of cristae and in matrix density, and our morphometric analysis revealed differences in cristae structure.

KW - condensed mitochondria

KW - electron microscopy

KW - glycogen

KW - orthodox mitochondria

KW - rat ESC

KW - rat iPSC

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111509609&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/cbin.11672

DO - 10.1002/cbin.11672

M3 - Article

C2 - 34288224

AN - SCOPUS:85111509609

VL - 45

SP - 2238

EP - 2250

JO - Cell Biology International

JF - Cell Biology International

SN - 1065-6995

IS - 11

ER -